1995 Year in Review - Oklahoma State University - Library

C O L L E
I
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HYEARASWE SIT DOWN TO SIFT THROUGH
ntenders for the Oklahoman of theyear, I am
amazed how right the final decision feels. We
than any one magazine could ever hope
agreement on the ultimate honoree.
may start the
to recognize
This year was no different.
In a year of untold acts of kindness and courage, of heroism and self-sacrifice,one group
seemed to epitomize the goodness of heart that helped Oklahoma City, indeed the entire
nation, weather the horror of April 19,1995. Their valor--combined with the precision of
their response to the crisk-actdly inspired their peers to coin a new term in rescue
parlance, one that hasbecome a household word amongfirefightersand rescuers the world
over: The Oklahoma Standard
The Oklahoma City Fire Department will shake its respective head over this award,
embarrassed about being honored for just, as they put it, doing their job. But in a time
when men and women are too often idolized simply for being famow-or infamousisn't it nice to recognize someone for being what many parents hope their sons and daughters will grow up to be: quick to serve, kind and modest, hard working and thoughtful,
someone to be counted on in a time of crisis?
It is our belief that in honoring the Oklahoma City Fire Department,we honor the best
in each of us-from the child who cleaned out his closet to bring clothing to those left
homeless from the bombing to the survivors who shook off their own injuries to help
others to safety. In fact,as contributing editor Maura McDermott was inte~ewingfirefightersfor our cover story more than one pointed out that had residents of our capital city
not taken the time to vote for a sales tax to fund improvements in the fire department in
1989,their ability to respond April 19,1995,might not have been what it was. Oh, if all our
heroes were so willing to share the glory.
If April 19,1995, taught us anything, it was that being a community, like so much of
life, is a team effort. I believe we speak for many survivors' and victims' family members
when we say we can't think of anyone we'd rather have had looking after our loved ones
that day than the men and women of the OCFD. Oklahoma City, consideryourself blessed
If this year has been a wake up call for Americans, here at Oklahoma Today it has instilled a desire to honor the best in our fellow man-not sensationalize the worst. We
would like at this time to announce a new Year-in-Review tradition: The Oklahoma Heroes. Beginning with the issue you hold in your hand, Oklahoma Todaywill honor-along
with our Oklahoman of the Year-a select group of individuals who have made a difference over the course of the year. We think you'll agreethisyear's group is among Oklahoma's
best. We also hope you'll write and nominate the everyday heroes who emerge in your own
communities in 1996. Rest assured, we'll be looking forward to meeting them.
Year In R e v i e w 1995
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SPORTS ....................................................... 48
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What kind of year was it? OSU beat OU on Owen Field, Cowboy basketball wen.
L to the Final Four, and the Big Eight became history. Need we say more?
54
..................................................................
TRIBUTES
Our sky lost some brilliant stars.
$
THE MIGHTY MANTLE ............................................................. 66
We bid The Mi& goodbye. By I K Stratton
EPILOGUE
................................................................................................................
74 Year In Review 1995
H O W
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT By Maura McDermott
w
E p NOT HEROES.
?hat is what the
ddahoma city firer& to tell us during the
sixteen days they rescued the survivors and recovered the victims
of the bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in
downtown Oklahoma City. Firefighters tried to point out who
they considered the real heroes of
the tragedy. The innocent dead.
The families of the victims. The
survivors. The unnamed, untrained folks who ran into the
building minutes after it fell to pull the shocked and
bleeding out of the dust. The Red Cross and other volunteers. The police, emergency medical workers, doctors, nurses, soldiers...
As for why practically everyone but they were heroes,
the explanationwas simple: 'We were doing our job." They
were right. If the bombing was the biggest event in the history of the OklahomaCity Fire Department, it was alsojust
a more intense version of what firefighters deal with every
day--scenes of destruction where some people are saved,
and others are lost. It was one of about fortythousand calls
or rides that Oklahoma City firefighters takeeach year-to
fires,to car wrecks, to heart attacks, to chlorine spills,to hot
air balloons fallen out of the sky. "Anytime the light kicks
on, we are expected to take care of it," says Corporal Rick
Harris of Fire Station I, located just five blocks from the
site of the Murrahbuilding. So,on the morning ofApril 19,
t
Opposite page, clockwisefrom left,police Sgt. JohnAvern, Baylee
Almon, and ChrisFields; Homer Jones;fir&ghters at the Murrah
building; and Brian Arnold.
1995, H
arrisand others on the red
Abovefrom left, John Williams, Carl Glover, Bob Edwards, Tim Fanner, and Ed Koch. THE HIGHEST HONOR In 1995, the Internstional ~
s
~ of
~
Fire Chiefs awarded
the fire department
the Ben
award for heroism
and valor.
Year I n Review 1995
shift at Station I made a ride to the
worst terrorist attack ever on
American sod.
Because of the magnitude of
the attack, the world, however, insisted on thinking of the rescuers,
especially the firefighters, as heroes. Figures in smudgedhelmets
and baggy brown coats and pants,
OKLA CITY in big blockletterson
their backs, appeareddaily on our
televisionscreensand on the front
pages of our newspapers. Mostly
nameless, often faceless, they did
tasks no one should ever have to do. From time to time
one of these figureswould take off his helmet and tell us a
story--of carryinga lifeless infant into the light, of dutching a living hand sticking out of the rubble like a battered
flower, of finding a toy fire truck among the fallen walls-and then go back to his work. They downplayedthe dangers to their bodies and minds, but we knew better.
No matter how much they denied it, they were our heroes, symbolsof sanityamidst alandscape of madness. And
of course we were right, too, if you define a hero as someor nobility, as my dictionary
~ one
i noted
~ tfor feats
i ~of courage
~
does. Agreeing with the public, the InternationalAssociation of Fire Chiefs awarded the Oklahoma City Fire Department the Ben Franklin award for heroism and valor.
Usually givento an individual,the medal isthe highesthonor
the fire service bestows. "I couldn't be prouder," says Fire
Chief Gary Marrs of his firefighters. In a letter of comrnendation each firefighter received in June,Mam wrote: 'You
have shown this community and this countrythe best part
of human nature: the willingnessto help others in time of
great need...You have proved that this is the best fire department in the nation."
7
down in the last twenty or so years, says Dick Miller, assistant fire
marshal. Fire deaths, too, are way down, because of increased use of
smoke alarms.
Consequently,firefighters in the Nineties have to do more thanUput
INNER WAS READY. THE FIREFIGHTERSWORKING
the red shift at Station I were about to load their plates the wet stuff on the red stuff,"or in laymen's parlance: put out fires.
with chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, and . All firefighters know basic emergency medical techniques, and many
black-eyed peas when suddenly the overhead lights flashed brighter have advanced skills. There is a special team at StationV for the handling of hazardous materials
for an instant and a signal
sounded. There was instanta(there were four hundred "hazmat" calls last year), and a special
neous attention. As the disteam at Station VIII for undenvapatcher ran through the address
ter rescue. Some firefightershave
and the reported problem, four
also trained in the techniques of
firefighters abandoned their
confined space rescue and high
plates and just like in the movies,
angle rescue (usingropes)-both
slid down poles to their truck. In
critically in need in the Murrah
the space of a minute, the rescue
building rescue. Firefighterswith
squad was making a r i d e s i r e n
specialized training are scattered
on, red lights flashingdown the
among the city's thirty-seven fire
quiet dinnertime streets to Pathways, a nearby residence for the
stations. "We've tried to evolve
into a full senrice organization,"
mentally disabled. Over their
says assistant fire chief Kenneth
heads, a Christmas tree shone in
Bunch. His firefightershave to be
green lights on top of a downtown
prepared for everything,because,
office building.
Carrying orange boxes of
as Bunch explains, "In the majority of incidents we roll up and
medical gear, the four bounded
don't know what it is."
out of the truck and into the
building and a room painted with
Today there are one thousand
a bright tropical scene of palm
firefightersin Oklahoma City, up
by about two hundred in the last
trees and pounding surf. A thin
five years. They ought to borrow "the few, the proud"
gray haired man sat alone at the end of the room, and
In most instances,
firejghten arrive on the
though he was surrounded by palm trees, he was shakslogan from the Marines because competition for a spot
in the fire academy is fierce-for each class of twenty,
scene with no clue as to
ing as if he were kozen to the marrow. Drops of blood
what they willfind thkre.
three thousand have applied. After written and physical
dotted the linoleum floor. The squad was all calm effiexams and an i n t e ~ e wthe
, chosen go through sixteen
ciency: pulling on gloves, taking the man's blood presTHE DAYS OF weeks of training and then a year of probation.
sure and pulse rate, getting his medical records, quesNAKED HEROtCS This is a far cry from thirty years ago, when Dick
tioning the staffer who had called 911. The sick man
Miller became a water squirter. After a rudimentary
ARE OVER would not speak and could not stop shaking;before long,
screening process, he was on the job a month before acRick Harris, the lead emergency medical technician on
Firefightersstill enter quiring any formal training. His first day was memothe call, gently strapped an oxygen mask across his face.
rable: just as the station officer was about to sound a
A minute passed and the man laid his head back and
test alarm so Miller would know what to expect, a real
burning buildings,
began to wail like a heartbroken dog on the end of a chain.
alarm went off. The officer said, "That's it-jump on:'
Frightened, an onlooker began to cry. "These people
and Miller did, one arm stuffed in his coat sleeve, the
but they wear a
know what they're doing," the staffer reassured her.
other holding onto the rescue squad truck for dear life.
"They're A number l!"
Upon arrival at the fire scene, "I had no idea what to do,"
breathing apparatus
Before long EMSA arrived to take the man to the hoshe recalls. He learned by watching the old hands. Those
pital, and the squad was able to leave this small scene of
were the days of the mighty smoke eaters, firefighters
and
are
clothed
in
misery and return to dinner. Citywide, seventy percent
with
leather lungs who regularly entered burning buildof fire department calls involve medical emergencies. The
ings without air masks and usually came out-tops of
protective gear made
squad stays busy, called out on the average about seven
ears sizzling, tips of the fireman's trademark mustache
to nine times per twenty-four hour shift. In contrast,
of space-age fabrics
singed-to tell the tale. The long-term results, however,
there were two fire calls that day. Because of better buildwere not so inspiring: high rates of lung and heart dising codes, heating systems, and public education efforts
ease caused by smoke exposure.
good to over 800' F.
by the fire department, the number of fires has gone
D
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1
Oklahoma Today
the Year The days of nakedwa are over. FbiIghtersstilZehDEAUNQ W m I
THE PRESSURE
ter burning buildings, but they must weat a breathing ap~simil;uh~scubadirrersuse.Theyare&~
The ilip side EO the
ia bmkr gear made of qxxe-age fabrics tbat pmtect at
rnmmafmoreb8OooP.;whereasthesmokeearn
made do with Eatton or pa*
Hamdoug marerials adredhe rushis how
t e a w w e a r e v e n m o r e ~ p ~ g m ~
barditcanbetoturn
me~llsuits.T h e s a f g . u p g r & ~ t o t h e f k t t u c l r s :
rideinsidem, andtheremdaofson €he&
Thesedayschainsmehave"placed;nres,andevencom- it 0E.. wighters
prim have bfBmt& the stations,
Despite the modem amutamentst a day at the ike
things that make it
&tienhstilla&bfmheanddem~asf
alwap
has been. Shifts are twenty-fourh o w long and startat 3
hardto come biLFk
am. First t h i n g I ~ f e r s & e c k a lil h e ~ ~ mand
m t
appmatw, Clem the statism, ,itnd do s
t
~
w
d e s
and eat dhw-no
together. T h e y e a t b ~ ~ e t h ~ ~ t e x s a ~
Station I take nuns fixing meals irnd draw fot clean-up
miitter howr goodthe
chiores. Each dayCereisa mandatoryturrohorn of school
in fireor rescue techniques at the fire ation, or alkmatively, pmrtice&msof fire orresmetctics, s o m ~ firehouse cook.
with other companies. Fie companies also malce safety
inspectiam d draw up pre-he p h s d btdaewes in
~~
theirc2istrim~wellastesr&dtht:u~s0mthousand
fi,n? hydfatlts each year.
Theseactivitiesare in addition to c&. Despite their
busy schedules,the cxmwaderie traditio& shared by
fidghters remains strong.
Twenty-four-ham shifts
make the firehome more like
a s-ad home than a p k
of empl~)sneat.The atmosphere wound the firehouse
ir; jovi4 and practical jokes
abound; firei%ghtersat Station I lilren it to e m e r
camp ar a s1um'bm party.
The & u g h t$r the job
$ e p~ d dam fir&&ers often folldw in their
father's or d e ' s or egysh's
footsteps. Chief M m fiim- 1
self is il thirdgeneration
locate the fire. Fires are &a unpredictable a n i d e a t
one moment apparently tamed, the next, springing an
p y &g addcat. But after the fire is out and wryone
is safe, he ~
~there is sarph&ri8:
, "RLfou'rejumping
up and &M, hootingand halkiq 'Let's do it again!' "
Such moments, he s a s make $refighting "th~
be& jab
intheworld"
The flip side to the adrenaline rush, h o w , is how
Batd it a n be to turn it O f f ~ e c i d l fer
y ro&es. A
c;aseinpht: F i r e ~ u s e d t o b e a e ~ r i q x m i e d b y a
distinctive dck, which soundedjnst like the &ck of an
electric light switch, says eighteen-pw-veteFafl Olivw
Moore of StationI Thismade an afternoonsap on dqs
~fEn~~hpassib1e;with
the fltp of* switchinthenext
room a firefighterw u p a d running (the ml&n was
installing siient switch). The longer you @rea
fk-eS@ter,an the dm h d , the larder it is sget the
adrenaline~ g - e s p ~thedead~fof~whm
i n
the %fighter has to go &om * ~ h W
to n tilt.
boogie," as one m t e r put it*ready to rush into a
burn& W
g owid a heart.atta&vic& One older
&&&ter ~ e s t o awakeniedat
~ g thewheelhalfway to a call.
Psyobolugical strain a& r~ the pressure. On Uptain Nathm Shipman's first day on the job, he was iced
with a mother who had just stmqled her &Id. Fire-
Brehcasr cabk.
fz&ts.ifs-~U: fire-
i
~~.
The; allwe of the shiny red
And uth!& The mdem fiefighter may be a rensisswd sfla& @$
te knew how to both wHlfo1.t the hurt
:,
$s
w..
mwdtqp intact.
is agwd strategy for coping widlt thxb~~~tfars
af die
%Wk,*
fie. D q i t e the rislrs,ar
a brriU Lt. Tommy Phillip6 1,i t s s&qPhe sap, bkdea h
r
is usdly&di-bb,a& with smoke-filled air, and it can
injured man Mmre f-4 k
Recod building roof.
Year In Review 1995
that he made it," Moore explains. "It helped me out a lot." Echoes
Harris, "If you can help somebody, that's about as good as it gets."
1
1
ETEEN EIGHTY-NINE WAS A PIVOTALYEAR FOR
Oklahoma City Fire Department. In retrospect, one
ee that the events of that year prepared the departs to be its greatest challenge thus far, the rescue and
recovery at the Oklahoma City bombing.
Nineteen eighty-nine was also the department's centennial. In
1889, the department began as a volunteer bucket brigade. Its first
piece of apparatus was an old beer wagon equipped only with ladders and buckets, pulled by hand to fires. By 1891 finances had improved to the point that two horses, Babe and Jumbo,were purchased
to do the pulling. Firemen were justly proud of their horses, who
reportedly could distinguish the ring of the fire phone from the local phone and were always in place before the firemen had time to
slide down their poles.
The horses did some heavy work-including hauling a 1907
water tower, a platform that extended sixty-fivefeet into the air. But
by 1910the department had its first piece of motorized equipmenta dazzling white chemical and hose truck with fancy gold lettering,
ail
:
.
:
-
complete with a perfect silver bell in front THE ALLUne or Inr:
(now on display at the Oklahoma FirefightSHINY RE0 RRE
ers Museum in Oklahoma City, a toy DalENQINE
matian in the driver's seat). Over the years
The enthusiasm for
the citizens of Oklahoma City consistently
passed bond issues and sales taxes to fithe firefighter'sjob
nance the modernizing and expansion of
the fire department. By 1951 the departgets passed down;
ment counted twenty-two stations and five
hundred-gallon-per-minute engines; by
firefightersoften
1971, the number of stations had reached
thirty, and the engines were pumping a
follow in their father's
thousand gallons per minute.
Along with equipment changes came
Or uncle's Or cousin's
social changes. The first black firemen
were hired in 1951, and their station, Number VI, subsequently earned the most effi- footsteps. Chief
cient station award three years in a row.
himself is a third(Fire stations have been integrated for
some time.) Firemen became firefighters
in the mid-1980s with the hiring of the first generation
women (today there are about twenty-five
in Oklahoma City). By its centennial in Chief Marrs'grandfather is
1989, the OCFD was a thoroughly mod- the second Oklahoma City
ern department with a good safety record.
firemanfrom the right.
ahonzalz o f t h e Year J
Though eleven firefighters had been killed responding to or battling fires since 1911, the last
had been Dan McQueen, who had died a long +-,
thirty-nine years before battling a lumberyard blaze.
The department's fortunes, however,
were about to change at a modest one-story
frame house in southwestOklahoma City. On
March 8, 1989, a four-year-old playing with a
stickin an open flame heater started a fire. Before
the fire was extinguished, three firefightereJeffre
Lindsey, Bennie Zellner, and JimmyAyers-were killed in a
flashover, a fireball created when flammable gasses become superheated and explode into flame. The fire, which reached temperatures approaching 1000' F., was so intense it burned away the men's
protective clothing and breathing apparatus.
The death of the three was a shock to the whole department. The
trauma prompted the later formation of the peer counseling groups
called Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) teams, which proved
to be so helpful during the long Murrah rescue. Firefighters on the
teams provide a sympathetic ear and advice on how to recognize
symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and what to do about it.
The CISD teams enabled firefighters to hold on to their humanity
during the sixteen-day Murrah ordeal, writes assistant fire chid Jon
Hansen in his book Oklahoma Rescue. Bowman suspects the man-
L
datory sessions might be why OCFD firefighters are
coping better than some predicted.
W
'.
. e the department was recovering emotionally after the fatal house fire, community
leaders stepped forward. They began a
petition drive to put a new sales tax referendum for the department on the ballot.
months before the fatal fire, a similar tax
had been defeated by 105votes. The petis successful, as was the vote, and the subseof a cent was split between the police and
fire departments.
Hansen is still emotional about the deaths of the three firefighters;
he was on the scene and comforted Jeffrey Lindsey's brother Mike,
who was fighting the fire when his brother died. "Those three guys
gave their lives for the community,"he says, "and the community repaid them by passing the tax." Firefighters would later credit the sales
tax as a crucial variable in the department's successful handling of the
Murrah rescue. For the sales tax revenue bought new equipment, engines, and other vehicles, including a one-hundred and thirty-fivefoot ladder truck, the only ladder long enough to reach survivors in
some parts of the Murrah building. Perhaps most importantly, the
tax bought new firefighters, making possible the dual manning of 6re
stationsand the bombing recovery effort. "Those three guys were with
us in that building," says Hansen. "They made a difference."
L
did
I
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'
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:
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:
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("
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' WEOKLAHOMA CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT BEGAN AS A
lcket brigade in 1889; so perhaps it is fitting that in the
it again embraced the lowlybucketearns you a cover photo on People magazine, but it was
essential: hundreds of firefighters,working in teams, removed by hand
and 6fty tons of the shattered Murrah building,
of the building shifted and swayed in the wind.
While the process was tedious, firefighters derived satisfaction from
slowly shrink. "We felt like we accomplished
The rubble was removed in order to recover the dead, a labor of
.
. love and duty that the Oklahoma City Pire Department took upon
: itself. B~ ~
a4,1995,
i
all but three of the 168victims of the bomb-
. those buried near a dangerously unstable support column of the
'
Murrah building-had been recovered, and the recovery effort ended.
. The rescue had begun sixteen days earlier when squads, engines, and
trucks f?om a number of stations, shookbythe blast, dispatched them. selves to the bomb site; before long, Chief Marrs ordered a general
a l a r m 4 g in all on-duty units and the off-duty shifts-the first
. in the history of the city. By the end of the first day,all of the survivors
trapped in the building had been rescued, with the Oklahoma City
Fire Department having a hand in nearly all of the rescues.
:
I
I
I
1
'I
i
In an initial report analyzing the rescue operation,
pares to loaded handguns) are left out, and children exBUCKET BRIGADE
investigators from the International Fire Protection Asperiment. But about forty percent of child arsonists are
sociation gave the department high marks for speedy
children in crisis. Hays' job is to interview children who
Firefighters (with
recovery of survivors (most were rescued in the first hour
set fires, do a fire-safety program with them, and if need
some help) removed
be, refer them to a mental health professional who deand a half). They praised firefighters for making decicides if they need further help.
sions that "were almost universally correct and were instrumental in saving lives-which reflects well on the by hand some 450 tons
Hays was the second woman in the department, and
during the five years she worked on the rigs, she went
level of training and preparedness of the companies and
command officers." They also praised the department
of shattered building.
through some tough times proving that she could do
for its safety precautions. Save for Rebecca
the job. But listening to the stories some
Anderson, a nurse who died of head injuchildren tell, she says, is every bit as hard
ries after hurrying to the site to help, the
on her emotionally.
Some of the children she interviews
firefighters were able to prevent other serious injuries among the hundreds of rescuhave been abused physically or sexually.
ers despite extremelydangerous conditions.
One little girl used fire as a way to stop
And as help from around the state and
family violence. Knowing the fire departcountrypoured in to downtown Oklahoma
ment would be called, the six-year-old set
City, it fell to the Oklahoma City Fire Defires whenever her father began beating
partment to coordinate the extensive resher mother. Hays contends that troubled
cue and then the recovery operation. "It
children who play with fire don't stop
was a learning experience for all of us,"says
until there is an intervention, and she is
Hansen, who points out that the effort was
proud that her program has achieved a
marked by exceptional cooperation below recidivism rate (fifteen percent). "As
tween a large number of local, state, and
a fire department we want to stop that
federal agencies. This high level of coopfire-setting behavior, but we also want to
eration has since been dubbed "the Oklahelp the child as a whole," she says. "We're
homa standard" by Federal Emergency
talking about a better community, a betManagement Agency (FEMA) officials.
ter society."
The department's successful management of the rescue effort earned it new reThe Real Heroes
spect. Recently Marrs and assistant fire chief Bunch gave a presentation at a conference in Virginia attended by fire officials from such
terrorism hot spots as Tokyo, Israel, and France. Bunch confesses that
HORTLY BEFORE CHRISTMAS, AMY PETTY KEPT A
prior to April 19 they probably would not even have attended such a
promise she made on April 19th, 1995, to four firefightersfrom
conference. These days Marrs finds himself fielding calls from other
chiefs impressedby the way his department handled the bombing and
Oklahoma City's Station VIII. The men formed the core of a
curious about how they run other programs. One telling observa- group who worked for five hours to dig her out of a black hole of
tion: they are never content. Despite accolades that would make a mangled office furniture, concrete, electrical wire, and rebar, while a
sailor blush, Marrs and the department continue to look for even bet- refrigerator dangled in the air over their heads and cantaloupe-sized
ter ways to be prepared for the worst that might hit their city, whether chunks of concrete fell around them. Petty couldn't see the four (Allen
the disaster be natural or man-made. Plans call for the department to Hill, Chris Thompson, Mike Roberts, and Vernon Simpson) who
add specialized search and rescue teams, modeled after the urban search . would eventually free her, but she could talk to them and listen to
them discuss the problems to be overcome. "I could tell it wasn't an
and rescue teams that flew in to help at the Murrah building.
Marrs has also made community involvement a high priority. Soon . easy thing," she recalls.
It wasn't. At 9:02 a.m. Petty had taken a slide in rescue parlance;
firefighters may be attending neighborhood meetings, teaching CPR
classes in the station, and working with businesses and community . that is, she fell from the Federal Employees Credit Union on the third
groups to prevent arson fires. The public education staff has already floor to what had been the ground floor of the building. After that
been beefed up. Two large-scale public education programs target split-second descent into what must have seemed l i e Hell, Petty at
children, who are responsible for fifty percent of reported arson fires times was terrified. She would say "I'm going to die, aren't I?" recalls
to dier At
and a million dollars worth of damage each year. These same children . Hill, and he would promise her, "No Amy, you're not going
.
other times throughout the ordeal, everyone did their best to keep the
are often victims of the fires they set.
Many kids who set fires do so simply because they are curious, says . conversationlight; in one such attempt Petty said, "Well, I guess when
Major Sheila Hays, who is part of a particularly innovative program . I get out of here, I'll owe you guys a cup of coffee:' to which she got the
called Operation FireSAFE. Matches and lighters (which Hays com- . reply: "Well, I sure do like chocolate-chip cookies," and then after a
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Oklahoma Today
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xear I n
Review 1995
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ei%tw$w CJHahma
n April 19,1995,these Oklahomans-inthe process
of doing their jobs or, simply, following their heartsmade the difference in how the Oklahoma City
bombing affected all of us. If not for their cool heads, stamina,
and selflessness, more innocent people might have died, been
injured, or been left unconsoled. They are not the only heroes
to emerge from that day-or from the weeks that followedbut we believe they represent the level of professionalism and
commitment that defined the Oklahoma response. We offer
them here our heartfelt thanks.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BEARWGTHECROSg
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At the heart of the Oklahoma
City rescue effort was a group
of people who always seem to
be there in America's times of
need: The American Red
Cross volunteers. Some 9,400
Red Cross volunteers (6,500
from Oklahoma County
alone) provided the support
services necessary to sustain
rescue workers and law enforcement officials at the
bomb site in the long weeks
that followed the bombing.
(The Red Cross alone received
$15 million in donations.)
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Twenty-one officers were injured in the line of duty (most
from smoke inhalation).
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Some 454 of Oklahoma City's .
finest worked the bomb site
on April 19 (the department .
averaged 238 men a day). :
The bomb squad collected .
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Opposite pagefrom top left, members
of the sherij's department, the bomb .
site, and citypolice.
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STAND BY ME
and Robinson.
Along with citizens who
turned their pickups and sta. tion wagons into impromptu
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ambulances, EMSA saw to it
THE POSSE
. that the rescued made it safely
.
. The Oklahoma County . to the ERs of area hospitals.
. Sheriff's Department boasts .
GUARDIANS OFTHE
. the state's largest reserve .
. force-several
hundred vol- .
HIGHWAYS
unteers
who
year-round
serve
.
: their local community. Never : Diligent patrol work allowed was that volunteer staff more . Oklahoma Highway Patrol needed than during rescue ef- Trooper Charlie Hanger to arforts at the Murrah building. . rest the prime suspect in the
Thesheriff's department pro- bombing of the Alfred P.
vided traffic control,dispatch- . Murrah building (Hanger
ers, search personnel, and stopped Timothy McVeigh for
mounted and foot patrols for . a traffic offense on 1-35just 90
the rescue and recovery effort. minutes after the bombing).
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At 9:03:25 a.m. on April 19,
evidence; robbery, homicide, . EMSA received its first 911 call
and burglary helped in the about the explosion from the
morgue and conducted wit- . downtown YMCA. By then,
ness interviews; auto theft de- seven ambulances and two
tectives processed vehicles . other EMSA units were al(for clues), and emergency ready on their way to the site.
response teams and patrol of- . Five minutes later, medical
ficers provided perimeter se- and triage commandswere up
curity. It might not sound . and in operation at NW 6th
glamorous, but the
police department's
most critical task initially was the most
basic of duties: traf- 2
fic control-keeping
the streets open so
ambulances and fire
trucks could get
through.
E ~ atAa triage site.
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OHP came from across the
state to man the bombing site
(others worked extra shifts to
continue adequate coverage of
our highways).
For its efforts, the Highway
Users Federation awarded
Hanger its 1995Trooper of the
Year award for Heroism and
the OHP its 1995 award for
Humanitarianism.
HEROES CITY BOMBING dark farces in our country
gave birth to April 19,1995.
What is indisputable, however, is that the Oklahoma
City bombing was the worst
act of terrorism on American soil in the history of
our country. At year's end, the national media all
but unanimously recognized it as the single most
important story of the year.
Unfortunately,in Oklahoma the bombing wasn't
a headline but our reality. And it wore the face of
our lost friends and loved ones, our coworkers and
sons and daughters and people we had never even
met but grew to respect as their life stories became
known to us in the weeks following the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in downtown
Oklahoma City.
As a city we vowed the bombing would not
change our small-town way of life. But in some
instances we failed to acknowledge that we ourselves had been changed. Maybe for the better,
maybe for the wiser, but changed nonetheless.
We had seen families torn asunder. And children die. And men and women who serve and protect us asked to do things no man or woman should
be asked to do. We took pride in how the world
responded to our Oklahoma ways but also wondered what all the fuss was about. When had hospitality and generosity and honesty and helpfulness become the exception, not the rule, in
The Murrah building
before April 19,1995.
RESCUER TIM QILBERT... 'There were people
yelling 'Over here!
Help me!' I don't
know what happened
to those voices. The
last five minutes we
were in there, we
couldn't hear them
anymore.'
America? When had a true
American ever not stepped
up to help another in need?
Ifwe could not have anticipated the horror of that
morning, we certainlyweren't
prepared for the emotional
aftermaththat followed-for
how long it can take a city to recover from a
manmade tragedy.
As 1995 ended, downtown was still a jumble of
rubble and scaffolding as congregations and companies began the slow business of rebuilding.
Christmas trees and wreaths dotted the fence that
encircled what had once been the Murrah building. If so many non-Oklahomans still felt compelled to make the pilgrimage to the bomb site, was
it any surprise that many survivors and family
members of the one hundred and sixty-eight victims were still hurting-if not on the outside, then
on the inside,where healing is even more of an inexact science?
If we thought a stiff upper lip and a willingness
to move forward would erase that one spring day
in April, we had to by year's end admit that it would
not. April 19,1995,had become a part of our collective history as a city and as a state. With firm
resolve we entered the new year intent on rebuilding the downtown of our capital city and helping
those most wounded by the tragedy to enter this
next phase of their lives.
We could only hope that in the process America
might heal as well.
Thejirst sign that something wasn't right in downtown Oklahoma City at 9:02 a.m. on April 19th were the gray clouds of ash rising
from the Murrah building; black smoke followed as cars parked outfront began to burn.
Oklahoma Today
the buildingfroor by
fior in a round-theclock questfor
survivors. None were
found afser thefirst
&Y.
The bomb's force turned cars znto manerators.
Oklahoma Today
The FBI sifed
through the rubble
baggie by baggie,
inch by inch.
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Whereverone looked: signs of encouragement and hope.
Year I n R e v i e w 1995
i From April 19,1995, to July 4,1995,fhgsjkw
at halfstaff in Oklahoma in honor of those
who lost their lives in the bombing. Above,
President Clinton and t
hemlady aftended
the statewideprayer service in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma Today
7. After the bombing, big cities to small communities around the world made an
effort to show Oklahoma it wasn't alone (this sign remained up in Times
Square in late May).
'LET OUR CHILDREN KNOW THAT WE WILL STAND AGAINST THE FORCES OF FEAR. WHEN THERE IS
TALK OF HATRED, LET US STAND UP AND TALK AGAINST IT. WHEN THERE IS TALK OF VIOLENCE, LET
US STAND UP AND TALK AGAINST IT. IN THE FACE OF DEATH, LET US HONOR LIFE.'
-PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ATTHE STATEWIDE PRAYER SERVICE IN OKLAHOMA CITY SUNDAY, APRIL 23,1995 &car In
Review 1995
I
On May 5,1995,a memorial service was held at the Murrah site, signaling that the search for victims was officially over. Thousand+including Rockie Yardley, a
bomb-disposal technician, and his son Max, right--gathered to say a final farewell to the 168 victims. Three of the dead remained entombed in the rubble; their
bodies would be returned to theirfamilies after the building was leveled on May 23,1995. Above, the burial of Aaron and Elijah Coverdale.
24
Oklahoma Today
'PEOPLE HAVE REALLY COME TOGETHER. YOU SEE IT IN THE POLITENESS
IN STORES. EVEN ON THE HIGHWAY, DRIVERS ARE MORE PATIENT WITH
EACH OTHER. IT FEELS LIKE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER AND
SAYING, 'I KNOW YOU'RE HURTING. I'M HURTING TOO.'
-DEBRA TERSCHEN,
CLOTHING STORE CLERK
Year In Review 1995
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litical pundits thought the big surprises had come with
Republican election sweep in 1994,1995quickly proved
em wrong. In a matter of seconds, the Oklahoma City
ng suspended politics a s usual as it thrust Oklahomaand state Republican newcomers--into the national spotlight.
In Washington, Oklahoma's congressionalGOP delegation and
its lone Democrat worked side by side seeking financial relief
for our capital city and justice for the victims' families. Back
home, the governor welcomed first President Clinton,then Vice
President Gore to the state. If only briefly, the political gauntlets
were laid aside, a s we saw what compromise could bring.
One suggestion?That the first
lady fight any urge to dress like
Monday, January 10,1995, Marilyn Monroe. On January
saw Tulsa Republican Frank 23, the governor's first "Open
Keating sworn in as governor Door After Four" drew some
of Oklahoma. Then he danced 100individuals-from carpenthe night away with the first ters to Campfire Girls-who
lady at not one but three inau- just wanted to chat
gu;al balls (ticket demand prompted extra
locations).
Everydayreality, however, set in soon enough.
The first family arrived at Oklahoma's first
home only to be met
with a little-known
Oklahoma political tradition: an empty house. Keating takes the oath of ofice.
(The governor quipped
that it remindedhim of college.)
Any lingering doubts that
Not a week later, The Okhho- Keating might not fit in at the
man invited readers to call and capitol were laid to rest when
leave recorded messages for the he declared the prune the symnewgovernor-160 responded. bol of the 1995 legislative session ("we need this session to
. be productive,"he explained to
the press).
Oppositepage fiom top lefi, ChKf
.
Alfalfa Bill Murray couldn't
Byrd, Synar at the JFK awards,
have said it better.
Keating's inaugural
HERE COMESTHE JUDGE
Justice Alma Wilson made
the history books this year
when she became the Oklahoma Supreme Court's first
wornanchiefjustice. Shemade
anotherkindofhistoryentirely
when she popped into Judge
Lance Ito's courtroom during
the 0.J. Simpson trial. (Justice
Wilson was there to observe the
use of cameras in court.)
LET M E GOOD TIMES ROLL
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A LESSONIN COURAGE
In a city of chameleons, he
was the exception. In his
nine terms and sixteen years
on Capitol Hill, Oklahoma
Congressman Mike Synar
fought the tobacco industry
and the gun lobby with a relentlessness that drew admiration even from foes. He
had been out of office only a
few months, when he was
named the winner of the
1995 John F. Kennedy Profile
in Courage Award for public
service.
The 45-year-old S p a r was
diagnosed with cancer in July
. and then with a brain tumor
in August. By October, the
. avid runner was wheelchair
bound and bald but still forg. ing ahead on campaign finance reform and as chair:
. man of the National Bank1 ruptcy Review Commission,
. which President Clinton appointed him to in 1994.
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Year In Review 1995
CHMJGINQ OF THE
CHEROKEES
The country's largest Indian nation said goodbye to
one chief (Wilma Mankiller
spent the year teaching at
Dartmouth) and welcomed
another: Joe Byrd, a fullblood Cherokee and former
tribal council member for the
last eight years.
YOU WANT ME TO GO
WERE?
President Clinton announced in October that
Gerald Scott-+ Duncan native-would be the new U.S.
ambassador to Gambia, the
smallest country on the African continent. (The one-time
Duncan Demon debate star
promised his new assignment
wouldn't keep him from returning to Oklahoma at least
once a year.)
THE W O W INCHARGE
In January, Mary Fallin be-
: came the first woman in state
history to lead the government
(albeit while Gov. Keating was
out of state).
Still she made good use of
her time signing an order to
allow state vehicles to transport water to Milburn (left dry
by a bad water supply) and a
rule that would allow DHS to
crack down on welfare fraud.
r how high they have soared (and face it "Anthology 1," (With more
f them are in the stratosphere of fame), than 54 million in domestic
a's country music stars have never . sales,Garth is the fourthhighYou could see it in their drawn faces as est selling artist in recording
rds at press conferences in Nashville after . history-only a beat behind
learning of the Oklahoma City bombing and later in the tears the Beatles, Billy Joel, and the
that streamed down their faces when the bombing cropped up . Eagles.)
Some music industry obin speeches at the annual awards programs. (It was no '
coincidence that Vince seemed to be around much of
summer.) By year's end, their pain had begun to find its way of that success to
into song-yet another sign that the healing had begun.
how well Garth
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Records-Nashville president
Scott Hendricks-had spent
many a summer working on
the Meacham place. As
Hendricks described it, the
massive pieceofcropart-sort
of a poor man's billboardwould include Garth's name,
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of country is far from over.
Reba's new album "Starting
The success of country . Over" debuted at the top of
music in the 1990s has put the chartsin l995,she beat out
many a singer in boob-inWhitney HoustonandMariah
cluding a good many who Carey for Favorite FemaleVohave never actually set foot in calist at the People's Ch
a pasture. Which could ex- Awards, and the Acadplain the perennial appeal of emy of Country Music
Reba McEntire who, like her selectedher its 1995Endaddy and granddaddybefore tertainer of theyear (she
her, has spent her share of time also won Top Female
on horseback.
Vocalist). When it came
Indeed Reba's credentials time to accept the CMA
were good enough to garner awards, McEntire didn't
her an induction in 1995 into even hesitate: "I want to
the National Cowboy Hall of accept this on behalf of
Fame's Hall of Great Western fellow Okies who have
Performers (her daddy and endured the bombing,"
granddaddy are in the Hall's ' she said at the May
Rodeo Hall of Fame). She award show. "I want to dedijoined some fine companycate this to all those who were
both Roy Rogers and Barbara left behind."
Stanwyckare among the Hall's
inductees.
WRITE IT INTHE WHEAT?
Yet the reign of this queen
For a while there in 1995,
Garth Brooks' new album
"Fresh Horsesnwas neck and
Oppositepagefioom top kj?,Reba
neck in sales with the Beatles'
McEntire, Joe Diffee,a d d n c e Gill
THE REAL THING
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. marketing class
. during his days at
Oklahoma State
. Universityin Still-
: water; goodness
. knows, the boy
: thinks big.
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Garth art in Clinton.
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in about 50 acres of a 360his 1995 commission of a . acre field (making each let5,500-foot-long piece of field . ter roughly the size of a footart by Kansas artist Stan Herd ball field).
to promote "Fresh Horses."
It didn't take much to perWhen Garth's record label suade the Meachams; in fact,
called Clinton, Oklahoma, to . all it took was the promise of
propose the idea to Kirk acopyofthenewBrookscomMeacham and his father, pact disc (and Hendricks'
George, it helped that the word that he'd pay for any
man on the phone--Capitol damage to their wheat crop).
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Year. I n Review 1995
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Like most art, the beauty
of this work is in the eyes of
the beholder. And in this instance, it helps if the viewer
is in one of the jets that routinely cross the sky over the
Meacham Farm on their way
to Los Angeles (the artwork
is all but unreadable at
ground level).
FROM WHEAT TO
THE WORLD
At the annual CMA awards
in May of 1995, Garth Brooks
took home the Jim Reeves
Memorial Award for furthering the cause of country music internationally.
By September, Garth haa
the record for the most popum
lar greatest hits album in James Gamer, Governor Qating, and Vince Gill at t t "A-1
~
awards.
country music history: his album "The Hits," released in And if being there is the best . year's end, Gill received aVI-I- . Awards for "Who's That
December of 1994, had . thing, he did that too, show- . 1Award for his efforts on be- . Man" and "Wish I Didn't
reached 7 million in sales (sur- . ing up to thank volunteers and half of Oklahoma City-he
Know Now," and took home
passingUPatsyCline'sGreatest . rescue workers at Gov. . chose to donate his share of . a Country Music Association
Hits" at 6 million).
Keating's Fourth of July flag- the ticket proceeds from the 1995 Triple Play Award for
. raising and at charity events . televised awards program to . having written three number
MR. NICE GUY
whenever he could fit them the governor's victims and one songs within a twelve. into his schedule.
families relief fund.
. month period.
(Garth,
In the aftermath of April . Country music's perennial
At times it seemed as if fate Ronnie Dunn, andVince Gill
19,Vince Gill gave of his time, . nice guy (and the Country conspired to keep him within took home similar awards in
his music, and his sport (he's . Music Association's top male our borders: he was back November.)
an avid golfer) to help raise . vocalist for the past five years) . again in fall to attend his 20- . Yet Keith's biggest surprise
money for victims of the had once again more than . year high school reunion at . of the year had nothing to do
Oklahoma City bombing. . lived up to his reputation. At . Northwest Classen in Okla- . with music at all: Warner
homa City.
Brothers tapped him to star
in a movie with comedian
Sinbad. Go figure.
THE SONG MAN
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Brooks 6 Dunn, country's reigning duo.
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Toby Keith the singer spent
1995 producing his first holiday album "Christmas to
Christmas" ("it doesn't have
any traditional Christmas
songs on it:' Keith said, "it's
kind of the way that I see
Christmas").
Toby Keith the songwriter,
on the other hand, wrote four
songs for the holiday album,
pocketed two 1995 BMI
Oklahoma Today
THE OKLAHOMA HALF
'
Brooks 8r Dunn maintained their winning streak by
capturingtheirfourthstraight
Country Music Association
vocal duo award in Nashville
in October. Said Ronnie
Dunn (the Oklahoma half of
the twosome), "This is what
keeps the diesel in the buses
andkeepsusgoingeachyear."
We thought we'd let you know where Oklahoma's "1995 Small Business of the Year" does business. . .
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Established in Oklahoma, LB&M has been providing professional and technical services to such
companies as General Electric, Lockheed Martin and Motorola for nearly two decades. Using our
in-depth knowledge of software, hardware, communications,
networking and productivity tools, we can recommend and deliver
practical solutions for our clients. . .next door or around the world.
Oklahoma's
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Business of the Year 1995
Oklahoma's Minority Business of the Year 1995
L w d M corporate headquarters in Lawton, Oklahoma, (405) 355-1 471
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klahoma has long been known for producing beau- had two new welcome signs- . Carl Albert High School in
tiful women-if only because we've produced more . both proclaiming it the home . Midwest City, Ahmad studied
than our share of Miss Americas. But nothing of Shawntel Smith, Miss classical ballet at both Ballet
. Oklahoma and the Oklahoma
prepared us for 1995,which saw Oklahoma gals sweep three . America.
Summer Arts Institute. The
national beauty pageants: Miss America, Miss Black America,
and Mrs. America. Credit our fresh air or healthy living, but the .
. daughter of Dr. Jihad and Joy
Ahmad will use her reign to
rest of the country had to be left wondering: What do they feed
women out there?
. promote the arts.
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RAISING MISS AMERICA
: birthday, only to be declared
Miss America 1996 that same
evening (the first redhead so
. named in fifty-one years).
Within twenty-four hours,
. Shawntel had gone from be. ing an Oklahoma City Univer. sity graduate student to hob. nobbing with Kathie Lee
. Gifford and Jay Leno on tele. vision, power lunching with
. U.S. Secretary of Labor Rob. ert Reich and U.S. Secretary of
Education Richard Riley, and
. sharing her views on education with President Clinton.
. (Bryant"BigCountr.fReeves
even called the Smith house to
. offer his congratulations.)
Yet despite an earning po. tential of $250,000 this year in
appearance fees and having
one of the most recognized
faces in the country now,
Shawntel remains, well,
Shawntel. "I doubt if I ever
will forget that I'm
Shawntel Smith from
Muldrow, Oklahoma,
(pop. 3,200)" she confided to the Tulsa World
on her first visit home.
Her hometown, however, wasn't taking any
chances. By October, Muldmw
.
Her vital statistics are not
your typical leggy Miss
America's: She stands a mere
5-feet, 3 112 inches tall. She's
a redhead. And she has no
modeling or adingaspirations
(she wants to earn a doctorate in education instead).
Yet family members say
Lacricia Shawntel Smith has
exuded Miss America charm
since she was a little girl. "If
you've ever met her," an aunt
toldthe Muskogee DailyPhoenix, "she just beams; her personality just shines."
Obviously, Miss America
judges agreed. On September
16, 1995, Shawntel Smith
woke to her twenty-fourth
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THE ULTIMATE MRS.
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On paper, Kimberly Brasher
sounds too good to be true: wife
of fourteen years, mother of
four, an attorney, and former
Miss Breck of 1990 who sews
. and designs her own clothes,
camps and enjoys four-wheeling, teaches etiquette, and cornposes original songs.
In actuality, she has the perfect qualifications for Mrs.
. America, which in September
of 1995she became. "This is a
. celebration of that great institution called marriage:' cried
pageant emcee and one-time
mom of "The Brady Bunch"
. Florence Henderson at the
Palm Springs, California, fi. nals. Of course, it didn't hurt
that the title also came with
. $100,000 in cash and prizes.
.
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. BasheerahAhrnad
:
. AN OKLAHOMA ENCORE
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. In 1994 OCU student :
Karen Wallace wore home the
. sash and crown of Miss Black :
: America-the first Oklaho. man to do so in more than :
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twenty-five years.
In December of 1995,
Wallace went to Jackson, Ten. nessee, to turn her crown over
to her successor. She might as
. well have saved the airfare.
The new 1996 Miss Black
. America? Basheerah
Ahmad, a twenty-year. oldOU junior.
Ahmad won the na. tional title after first be- i .!
coming Miss BlackUni. versity of Oklahoma in
February of 1995 and
. then Miss Black Oklahoma in August. A
former valedictorian of Mrs. ~ r n n i c andfarn
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Year In Review 1995
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MISS
AMERICA
1996
SHAWNTEL SMITH
.
H E R E SHE IS ... OUR MISS AMERICA Yet another small-town Oklahoma girl dons a cherished crown. By Glenda Carlile
KLAHOMA HAS
come to be known
,
ball-en
a dust bowl no one
particularly likes to mention.
It has not, however, in the eyes
of the world, ever measured
up to California or even its
neighbor to the south when it
comes to producing beautiful
women. Or at least until 1995,
it hadn't. But this year, Oklahoma pulled off a coup unheard of in pageant history:
Oklahomans won three of the
most coveted beauty crowns
in America. Shawntel Smith of Muldrow became
Miss America 1996, Kimberly Brasher of Edmond,
Mrs. America 1996, and Basheerah Ahmad of
Choctaw, Miss Black America 1996.
It was enough to make one gasp. (The fact that
on September 16,1995, one Oklahoman was being crowned Miss America on the East Coast while
another on the West Coast was donning the sash of
Mrs. America made it stranger yet.)
LaaiciaShawntelSmithjoined the ranks of three
other Oklahomans to be named America's ideal
woman: Norma Smallwood in 1926, Jane Jayroe
in 1966, and Susan Powell in 1981. Her victory
put OWiahama among the top six Miss Americaprod*g
&@tes-swpassed only by California
with &
s*
and Pennsylvania and Ohio with
five Miss Americas each. (Michigan and Missis-
sippi, like Oklahoma, have
produced four.) In the sixtynineyears the pageant hasbeen
in existence,twenty states have
never even had one.
What historically has distinguished Miss Oklahomas
from the pack, said Charles
Welch, chairman of the board
for the Miss Oklahoma Contest, is that they are not only
beautiful but "characteristically have both feet planted on
solid ground." In that, they
represent not only Middle
America but the best of
American values. Even
Shawntel
seemed
to
realize
her personal triurnphM ~ S S~ ~ n e r i c
1936,
a
small-town
girl
makes
good-was
a metaphor for
ShawntelSmith.
others when she observed not long after her tiurnph that the other major lesson of her becoming
TT TAKES A M
iss America is that: "The American dream is still
VlUAGE attainable. My accomplishment...p roves the dream
Powell and Jane is still out there."
Jayroefeel they were
their M e s but
their communities.
NOT UNUSUAL FOR SMALL-TOWN
to become Miss America. National p-t
rs like young women from w a l wmmubecause they are usually mare well mlmded
than their big-city counterparts. Allfour OIdahoma
winners grew up in small towns. Norma . she took both piano and voice lessons. In high school she was
Smallwood was from Bristow (pop. a cheerleader, a band member, 4H member, and played center
4,062), Jane Jayroe grew up in Laverne . on the basketball team that won the state championship. Jane
(pop. 1,269),Susan Powell was an Elk City enjoyed singing duets with classmate and friend JimmyWebb,
girl (pop. 10,428), and Shawntel is from . who later gained fame as a songwriter,writing popular hits such
Muldrow, a town of about three thousand as "Up, Up, and Away" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."
. Jayroewas sixteen in 1963when she entered and won her first
residents near
the Arkansas
beauty contest, the Miss Cinderella Contest in Alva. In 1964,
border in east. as a freshman at Oklahoma City University, she was named
queen of the All-College Basketball
em Oklahoma.
Both Powell
Tournament. She entered the Miss
OCU Contest in 1965 for experience,
and Jayroehave
said
more
than
and
before she knew it, she was Miss
Norma Smallwood
Oklahoma. She never expected that "a
once they felt
they were not just raised by their families
small-town girl who had never been in
but also by their communities. Indeed,
an airplane stood a chance of winning
hometown folks invariably describe their
against the sophisticated polished city
girls," but she later realized the most
famous residents with stories that begin
"when she was little."
important pageant criteria of all: be
natural
and be yourself.
Born May 12,1909,Norma Smallwood
Elk City's favorite daughter, Susan
won her first pageant at the tender age of
Powell, could also always be found
one, when she was named Oklahoma's
knee-deep in town life. By age two, she
Most Perfect Baby in a contest in Bristow.
As a child she won beauty contests in Miswas singing "Jesus Loves Me" before a
live audience. In high school she was a
souri, Texas, and Oklahoma; in her first
cheerleader, drum major for the Pride
year at the Oklahoma College for Women
of Western Oklahoma Band (Elk City
in Chickasha, she was chosen the Most
High School),and a frequent actress at
Beautiful Girl in school. Later that year,
the Elk City Community Theater. For two years,
Rudolph Valentino named her the best dancer in a
Above, ~ i s ~merica
s
she traveled 160 miles round trip each week to
1966,lanelayroe.
Charleston contest in Tulsa. As a college sophomore,
take classical vocal lessons in Oklahoma City. In
she won the Miss Tulsa pageant, and shortly there1977 she was selected Miss Elk City and second
BIG DREAMS
after, the Miss America crown.
runnerup in the Miss Oklahoma contest. After
JaneJayroe's family lived in Hammon when Jane
Did a small-town girl high school graduation in 1977,she entered Oklawas born in the Old Western Hospital in Clinton.
homa City University-primarily to continue with
Her family moved to Sentinel and later to Laverne,
have a chance against her vocal music teacher, Florence Birdwell (Powell
where her father was the boy's basketball coach and
had scholarships in both vocal music and trumassistant principal and her mother an elementary
the sophisticated,
pet). She sang with OCU's Surrey Singers and
school teacher. Jane and her older sister Judy were
involved in everything that went on in town. At
played trumpet in the OCU band; in 1980she won
polished city girls?
the National Association of Teachers of Singing
the age of three, Jane began singing in church, and
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Award and the district Metropolitan Opaa award. fn August, the
twenty-four-year-old OCU senior
was named Miss Okl&oma stnd in
September, Miss kme~ica.
4 s in the case of Smallwood,
J w e , and Powelll,the
hometown gM Shawnt
jwt abovt the most
that has ever happn
. Centerzand Muqow will soon have a Shawntel Smith Cd'
turd Center. Ja@e laughingly said her nephew told her in
m the ~een-agersdrag Main Street, but in Laverne
they drag Jme.
. most t
-
.
The Dream of Becoming Miss Arneric;
said they had dreams as d s n that they
u d her shoddm and a crown on lier had and envih w n Feud
8 h walk@ d ~ w t
nh lllfml~
with Wt wks s i q h g , vHere
she is, Miss America." As the
th~ughtful,Shawntel
scribedas"the kind of girl you would
wmt your daughterto be.*' In gra&
school aad middle school she took
piam lessonsand played softball (om
team went all the way to the state
tournmmt). She was a cheerleader
in high school and college, In 1989,
intent mbecoming the first woman
in her M y to graduate from adleg&and convin~edthat pageant
&oksbips m d d i h n c e her dram*
the high school senior entered taxi
won her first pageant title as
Muldr~w'sJuniorMiss. She a t k d d ;
Westark Community CollegelnFoxt
Smith and. grdmtd fmn &zlthin Tahlequahw%z
eastern U-sip
a bachefar's degree in business 4
mketing. She was enrolledat OCW
@1s grew older, they found Mr t inv01d
more than a pretty Gee, a pcxfeet body, and a God-given talm~ T l a e a ~ a o f t h e
md e n e w to p d k t those talentswasmmm~nls~
. .ythe&e
she was aamd Miss Oklalama, Susan Powell bad a eorrbilrzed
stal of twenty-~eyears h piano,
m p e t , w b )th~am
fdase2d&ng. To Swtm it did not seem like
work becameshe w a t~hingh a t she
loped to da Dewmked ias she was
tdeuted she campeted ha the Miss
Oklahama matest thme times
(Sbauuatel Smith was ,a c~nxcatimt
illhmaf of that d
Miss Oklahoma.
Powell never thought much &out
and workiag towarda mast& degree
Susan Powell.
and then Missheria In the of 1995.
&JQII~
of the t k m title holders are fhe least bit
they share a c o ~ l ~ nalma
m mater.
surprised
NP R A ~ OF
~ Em
OCU,J a p esap, not only provides &st-ratetmin-. ammz awcrrrw
ing in m i c and the fine arts,but the md uni*m~S&his
versity io m i d - t m O W o m a City also pays petsond attention to it$ charges-not d i k e the
m t W eyes found ina c1os~knitsmall town.
Back home+zven decades after the fact-the
pride each tam fa& at having raised a Miss
h d c b ~apparent t
a myme s i p imwmm ofpjrlyau'd Likepxlr
ta qprmchhg marntiststhat the;hame of a Miss
daughter to be.'
i h d c i l li&
Laverne has a Jane J a p e
Strtxt. I31Xt City hw the S u m Powell Fino Arts
Year In Review 1995
cXk3h0~.c o~ptitke
%w&m, D m she Was
namedbh O ~ o m a ~ ~ . n r a s ~ d t o w
the natiod title. The time b&weem state md n&tional competitionwas short aard he&% da~wifh
~ ~ & , ~ ~ e ~ ~ n p ~ c u
~ t s , a n d t r a v ~ r o o k h a f x ~ ~
compeaitions. Lack? 93:
Shawntdwent to Atlati
Miss Amerlcapagwnt.
1
wind of press conferences,wardrobe fittings, and personal appearances. It was severalweeks before she returned to her home
state, and that was to homecoming celebrationsin Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Laverne. There was barelytime for her to catch
her breath, let alone visit with family and friends. During the
next year, she made more than three hundred personal appearances in the United States, toured Vietnam, and visited seven
European countries. Although Governor George Nigh named
1981"Susan PowellYear,"she spent little time in her home state,
as she traveled 350,000 miles in a tour of forty states and performed for the American troops in Italy and Germany.
L Mirror of Its Time: CHANGESTHAT OCCURREDIN THE SIXTY-NINE
ars that elapsed between Oklahoma's first and present
iss America reveal a great deal about how our country
d. When Norma Smallwood was crowned, the pageant was in its fifth year and strictly a beauty contest. The contestants competed in bathing suits and evening gowns before a
live audience, since television was not yet available. During
her reign, Smallwood made sizable sums of money in product
endorsements and appearanceson the Keith-Orpheum vaudeville circuit, among other public appearances.
Jane Jayroe grew up watching the Miss America Pageant on
television in the family living room. In addition to bathing
suit and evening gown, she competed in talent and in a question-and-answer sessionwith master of ceremonies Bert Parks.
Jane's talent included directing the Miss America Orchestra in
the novelty tune "One, Two, Threen (she wore tails, bow tie,
and black sheer hose). Questions reflected the times: "What
do you think of the Beatles?" and "What is your opinion on
Vietnam?" It was the beginning of the women's liberation
movement, and unbeknownst to Jayroe while she was taking
the famous Miss America runway walk, women were outside
Convention Hall burning bras in protest of the pageant.
Jayroesays the biggest thrill of her reign was being the first Miss
~merica
to visit and entertain the U.S. trohps in combat. She spent
a week inVietnam flyingby helicopter to visit as many servicemen
as possible. Ever since, Miss America's visit to the armed forces
has been an annual
event. Jane Jayroe
earned an estimated $75,000 for
public appearances
that year in addition to a $10,000
scholarship.
As an accomplished operatic
soprano, Susan
Powell cinched
'
first place in the 1980 Miss
America talent competition with her rendition of
"Lucy's Aria" from The
I
~elephoneby ~ e n o i t t iThe
.
1980 pageant was memorable because of the firing
of longtime emcee Bert
Parks and for having for the
first time two AfricanAmerican finalists. Personality questions were not
asked on television, but Susan Was interviewed exten- K a y A b n d e r welcomes home
sivel~
by a celebritypanel of Shamtel appropriately.
judges. In addition to her
music, the judges were especiallyinterested in the fact that she
was from western Oklahoma and that she had chopped cotton.
The interviews took place in private, and each girl gave a tensecond speech on who she was and her ambition in life. Susan's
year was relatively calm. Ronald Reagan was elected President,
and the nation took a conservative swing. Observed Susan,
"The Miss America Pageant is the height of establishment,so it
fit in very well with that era." For her year's work, she earned
$100,000 cash and $30,000 in scholarships.
The Miss America Pageant had almost gone fullcircleby 1995,
when controversy erupted over whether bathing suits should remain a part of the competition. Newspapers conducted polls,
and ultimatelytelevision viewers were asked to call in their votes.
The returns overwhelmingly favored continuing the swimsuit
competition. (All three Miss Americas from Oklahoma are in
favor of the swimsuit competition saying it demonstratesphysical fitness and is a pageant tradition.)
Yet by the time Shawntel Smith was crowned Miss America
on her twenty-fourth birthday, a new category called a personal
platform had been added to the competition. Each state title
holder chooses an issue of importance to herself and society
and through in-depth interviewing during the national competition is evaluated on her commitment to her chosen issue.
During the coming year Shawntel will promote her platform:
School to Work: The Key to Keeping Kids in School.
Pageant officials estimate Shawntel will travel 20,000 miles a
month this year making speeches and other public appearances
that should earn her some $250,000 in fees. (She already has a
$40,000 scholarship from the Miss America Pageant along with
a $12,000 scholarship from the Miss Oklahoma pageant.) Already on the road Shawntelhas found that people want to know
how Oklahoma is doing in the wake of the Oklahoma City
bombing; she plans to use her travels as an opportunity to thank
people for all their efforts on the state's behalf. Indeed, one of
her first acts upon returning to her home state in mid-October
was to place a wreath at the site of the Alfred P. Murrah building. It was her second visit to the site, her first since becoming
Miss America.
Oklahoma Today
linquishing her crown, when she joined the Seattle Opera
Do Miss Americas Live Havvilv Ever After?
. Company. She has sungwith the New York City Opera and
the Boston Pops and has starred in theaters, opera houses,
. and concerthalls in musicals that include My FairLady, CarUGH BECOMING MISS AMERICA IS A . ousel, and Guys and Dolls. As fatewould have it, she met her
does
'
husband--opera singer David Parsons-at
the Cincinnati
after. . Opera,where they played opposite each other in the leading
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pro- roles in Oklahoma!. They were married in 1986 in Elk City
pro- . and make their home in Manhattan. Susan is currentlyhost
of her own half-hour series, "Home Matters" on
tect one from, however, are the career ups and
THE
OF
the Discovery Channel, now in its third season.
downs, marriages, divorces, joys, and heartbreaks
DETERIYUNAmN
that are part of every woman's life.
She also makes appearances all over the country
After her year in publiclife, Norma Smallwood LiLe a winning math in concerts and musical theater, and her versatility makes her soughtafter for operetta and mumarried wealthy oil man Thomas Gilcrease and
settled down to a private life away from prying
sical comedy. David is appearing in The Phanscoutingan opposing
tom of the Opera in Germany. Though their
eyes. Her life, however, became very public just
a few years later, when in 1933 the couple beschedules sometimes keep them apart, Powell
went
said,their mutual interests and abilityto do what
came embroiled in a sensational divorce trial.
they enjoy keeps their marriage strong.
Shelater married oil man George Bruce and lived
Cityrwice
In her case, Susan has found her Oklahoma
in Wichita, Kansas. Her last public appearance to
was in 1964when, as a special guest, she attended
upbringing and small-town background to be a
to observetheMiss
the Miss Oklahoma Pageant in Tulsa. Norma
good foundation for life in New York City.
died at age fifty-seven on May 8,1966, just a few
Strong roots have given
America ~a%eant.
months before Jane Jayroe was crowned
her the strength to survive in this "make it or
Oklahoma's second Miss America.
Jane Jayroe went on to become
break it town," though
she makes frequent trips
one of Oklahoma's best known television news anchorwomen. Marhome to Oklahoma and
to the Miss America Pagried to Paul Petersen in 1968, the
couple was divorced in 1976, and
eant as a judge and coJayroejoined manyother American
host. She is actively inwomen as a singleworking mother.
volved with an organizaShe began her news career as cotion of former Miss
anchor of the 5-Alive News for
Americas who perform in benefit
shows. Both Jane and Susan atKOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. For
a time she worked as an
tended the seventy-fifth anniveranchorwoman on a Dallas televisary of the Miss America pageant
and
watched their fellow Oklahosion station, but she soon moved
back to Oklahoma. Although caman be crowned. Watching
reer opportunities were better in
Shawntel embark on a journey
Dallas, she wanted her son to grow
only seventy-fivewomen in history
up in a smallercitycloseto her famhave made, they had only one
ily and friends. Shesaid shewanted
short, sweet message for the newhim to have that community feelest Miss America: "Save your
ing she grew up with and loved so
money. Don't make anylife-altermuch. Her son is now a sophomore
ing decisions for at Ieast two years
at Vanderbilt University, and Jane
after your reign. And above all,
~i~~ ~
~1 ~shte,
~,
rsmith.i
~
is now married to Gerald Gamble
enjoy every minute,
and lives in Oklahoma City. Recently retired,she keeps busy ' "This will be an incredibleexperienceyou will remember
with free-lance assignments, hosting public events, and . all your life."
working with charitable organizations. She said she has .
never been so busy.
SusanPowell,who alwaysknew she wanted to become an . G k d a Carlr7e is an Oklahurna Cily-based meter;shewn&?&w$k
opera singer, began her professional career the day after re- . t~ubRubyDarbyinOMahomaT~sDeumber
1995-Janwy1iW3swe
w-
Year In Review 1995
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could one? Seem the teen- '
DOUBLETROUBLE
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O R quacttv@W%fit&%qpx ywas just demonstrating :
ow peers took their bows and pocketa! {or d i m their . &pwo f t h e i n d e n t - .
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OH, IS THAT MY MONEY?
THE BEST LAID PLANS OF
e h i sad
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DOGS AND MEN
an8 building boad member taw* and the MeClsogh~ry
It didn't tdwlong for word :
and the n q d d of a fomer Skmilp of Tuba--arnang
bgetamdthatHugo(pp.. A V m i a ~ & ~ - ~ - m ~ l . ~ b c i t f r p s h t i ~ . o " t b m ~
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m e n t s a d ~ m c a .rI&~ 3,OQ
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SHAKE, W m E , AND ROLL
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h m gattan them mixe%l. up
dqe propasals (aweseem& came suspicious w w I e p .
d ~ r byd &s fa& &st.% be - paid 4 % it~ up b t h a&).
Chi Jmuary 18, LW5,the *c-e but we cotnpwd fWt
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e : and strai&~1&0ttt.* (The
a ~ t d c a t , l d & & ~ :4 2 o i n & e ~ & & t r W e( the. b a ~ ~ s o ~ t h e y a t
I
in alandslide in
: 1995, One could be forgiven
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:
COULD WE SEE AN ID.?
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Rowe was voted mayar of
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hmmw, ww more
Year In R e v i e w 1995
~k~wtttripbts,
letters, including one
from Rachael Wikswo of
El Reno who had also been
diagnosed with cancer as a
tyke. "Now I am 11:' she
wrote Mojo. "I am hopeful
that if I can overcome this, so
can you."
consider the 1995 class of
Jenks High School: it graduated not one but ten sets of
twins this year.
'
TIGER ON THE LAM
It would have been funny
had it not lasted quite so long.
For ten days, Shawana-a 200O U R MOJO
. pound, two-year-old Bengal tiBorn July 2, 1995, Mojo ger-terrorized southeastern
weighed 5 pounds and 10 Oklahoma while managing to
ounces. He was the second elude a contingent of souls inWestern lowland gorilla to be tent on catching her. The tiger
born at the Oklahoma City escaped from her cage at the
Zoo in 1995 (Acacia was the Carson & BarnesCircus (which
first), and zoo officials were winters in Hugo), and the inecstatic. (Mojo's mother is the ability of local officials to find
oldest Western lowland gorilla her (much less catch
to have given birth in North and put her back) inAmerica and the second old- spired nights of breathless TV news reports.
est in the world.)
Shawana was finally
All seemed well until Deapprehended-but
cember when Mojo was diagnosed with lymphocytic leu- only after the Oklakemia. No one in the gorilla homa National Guard
world had ever seen such a mobilized an OH-58
thing in a baby gorilla: USA helicopter with an inToday did a profile on Mojo, frared spotting scope.
journalists from England to
HAM NO LONGER
Australia followed the little
ON THE LAY
one's condition, and the zoo
received some 8,000 get well
Eluding both police and animal control of- ficers, Gary Crawford *T
and his three-legged
potbellied pet pig
Lewis spent much of the last
months of 1995planning how
to get the heck out of town.
For the past two years,
Crawford had fought Norman
anti-swinelegislationthat made
it illegalfor him to bring his pig
to work Crawford racked up
120citations and some $10,000
in fines and court costs only to
lose appeals at both the county
and state level.
Both the fight-and the escape-lost their sense of urgency when Lewis died on December 10,1995. The municipal court waived all but $2,100
in fines (which Crawford
paid), and Crawford, as he had
promised to do, sold his Norman business.
EVERY CHlLO A SWMIIMER
When Tyler Aldi of Tulsa
spotted his younger brother
. Justindrowning in a local lake
in 1995, he knew (thanks to
Red Cross swimming lessons
and Boy Scouts) just what to
do. More importantly, he
. knew what not to do.
Instead of jumping in the
lake (and possibly gettinghim-
nary a hitch: "I knew what I
should do:' Tyler said simply.
In recognition of his heroic efforts to save his
brother, the 10-year-old received a national certificateof
merit from none other than
Mrs. Red Cross herself, ARC
President Elizabeth Dole.
EVERY ADULT A VOLUNTEER
In the first two weeks following the Oklahoma City
bombing, he was a constant at
the American Red Cross's
Compassion Center at the First
Christian Church where family members gathered to learn
about the status of their loved
ones. In recognition of his efforts in those first difiicult days
after the bombing, Lewis
"Bucky" Kilbourne received
the Red Cross's Glow Austin
Award, the highest award given
to a local volunteer.
The chief financial officer
Aldi of Tulsa with American Red Cross president Elizabeth Dok.
: selfclraggedunder the surface),
for Oklahoma City's Sonic
. he laid on the dockand reached . Corp. also spearheaded a nafor his brother-while still . tionwide campaignpromoting
managing to hold onto the Red Cross programs and serdock himself. By all accounts, . vices in his company's 1,400
Tyler pulled off the rescue with Sonic Drive-Ins nationwide.
Oklahoma Today
Thousands of Oklahomans have made The Good News Choicentheir choice
for practical, affordable health care and this year we'll welcome thousands more.
Because good news travels fast about "The Good News Choicen. Ask your employer
to find out more about Healthcare Oklahoma. 1-800-535-2244 or 405-951-4780.
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The Good News Choice
physicians serving in Congress, was sitting nearby and
managed to revive Hill. His
only medical supplies?A supply of oxygen and a bloodpressure cuff.
When Hill's blood pressure
plummeted, and he lost consciousness again, Coburn had
the pilot land the plane in St.
Louis. When asked later about
the incident, the modest rescuer responded: "I am not sure
I did anything." AU politicians
should be so unhelpful.
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THE ULTIMATE BOY SCOUT
For 30 years Oklahoma Boy
Scouts have visited the Zink
Ranch outside of Tulsa to fish,
canoe, and hike. In 1995, the
Boy Scoutshonored the ranch's
owner-Tulsa industrialist
JackZink-with the Silver Buf-
:
. spiritual foundations of the :
W
T
S MR PREStOBHT
. Nation ran for the top post.
TO YOU
.
Lam could handle the family.
AS-theNational Mother of : pressure: he's had his own :
Tecumseh's Rick Lam be- : motivational speaking com- . the Year for 1995, Thompson . . will travel the nation visiting :
came the 50th young man (and . pany since he was 16.
other mothers and sharing .
only the third Oklahoman) to :
: with them the issues she be- :
be elected president of Boys .
A MOM'S MOM
lieves are most important to .
Nation in 1995. The office ]
came with one political perk: . For decades Barbara Hencke : good mothering: feeling good :
a chance to meet President : Thompsontendedtothedetails . about oneself as a mom and .
Clinton (himself aBoysNation . of lifethat sooftenhavedefined : spending quality time with :
president in 1963). In fact, if a good mother: homeroom . children in their formative, .
the truth be known Lam's . mom, library helper, Brownie : earlyyears.
American Legion office was : leader, carpool driver. She . Thompson is the wife of . more hotly contested than . raised three daughters, carting : U.S. District Judge Ralph G. : Clinton's present one-some : them to gymnastic classes, pi- . Thompson; the couple lives in . B~
40 of the 96 young
.
- men at Boys ano lessons, and cheerleading
- : Oklahoma City. Presidents Clinton and Lam.
scour Jack Zink. -
National Mother of the year Barbara Thompson
and her clan.
practice.
In April of 1995
at New York City's
Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, her efforts
as a mother were
acknowledged-as
they are so rarely
in this day and
age-by American
Mothers Inc., an
organization dedicated to preserving
the moral and
IF NQT
COBURN
Rep. Tom Coburn poohpoohed the incident but a
Colorado man wasn't having
any of it. "God was looking
out for me," said Ralph Hi,
when he put both men on the
same United flight from
Washington, D.C., to Denver.
Mid-flight, Hill suffered a
seizure and became unconscious. Coburn, one of five
Oklahoma Today
falo Award for his contributions and service to scouting.
(Zink is vice president of finance for Boy Scouts of
America's Southern Region
and a former Area 3 president.)
In accepting the award,
Zink joined some good company-Oklahoman
Frank
Phillips, artist Norman Rockwell, President Franklin
Roosevelt, and Walt Disney
each had a Silver Buffalo to call
their own.
-
cation Award for a
COME TOGETHER
multicultural curWhen recalled years from
riculum she developed, and uses, at now, it might not seem like
~ e n n e k e rKinder- much. it the congrega- . communities:' the Rev. Gregarten and Early . tionsofMount ZionBaptist gory Gier told the Tulsa
Childhood Devel- . Church and Christ the King . World in way of explanation,
opment Center in . Catholic Church knew on "and do something t o
February 12,1995,
Okmulgee.
The Okmulgee they were taking
teacher was the part in something
first Oklahoman to historic for their
receive the award c i t y : a w h i t e
(only ten are given Catholic priest
nationwide) and as a n d a b l a c k
a part of the award Southern Baptist
h e r s c h o o l w i l l minister sharing
a l s o r e c e i v e a the pulpit of one
$10,000 check. Said of Tulsa's most
Jackson,
who uses h i s t o r i c b l a c k
Rinht,
a
jubilant
Marilyn
Jackson.
- .
costumes of differ- . churches (
~ The Rev.
~ G. Calvin
~ McCutchen
~ of Mount
t Zion, 14,
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . .
e n t countries t o Zion was one of andtheRev.GregotyGierofChristtheKing.
A WWNINO STYLE
teach her charges about . t h e c h u r c h e s
. foreign places, "It's impor- . burned to the ground in the
bridge the gap. An expressIn April of 1995, . tant to start teaching kids . Tulsa Race Riot of 1921; it . way should not separate
Marilyn Jackson received a about their differences. was not rebuilt until 1952). people."
$5,000 Reader's Digest . They have a right to know . "We wanted to tear down .
American Heroes in Edu- who they are."
. the barriers between our
WORLD CLASS
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A 41-member Oklahoma
h
. Special Olympics team
brought home nine medals
. (five gold) from the Special
Olympics World Games in
New Haven, Connecticut in
1995.
Chris Paynter of Edmond
won gold medals in the bench
press, squat, and three-event
. combination; Cecil Martin of
Duncan took the gold in the
800-meter racewalk, and
Chemayne Pickens of Ard. more won the gold medal in
the standing long jump.
.
Also bringing home med. als were Tulsans Joseph
Meadors (a silver in the 800meter racewalk and bronze
medals in the 400-meter run
and long jump) and Keri
Whitaker (a bronze medal in
the 100-meter racewalk).
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Year In Review 1995
SCREEN I-
@
ries of two-hour TV movies
produced by Garner and
called (surprise) "The Rockford Files." By 1995, Garner
was about to begin on the last
of the six shows, and the Norman native found time to help
with relief efforts after the
Oklahoma City bombing and
address the 1995 Class of O.U.
tmay not go down a s the busiest year for Oklahomans
@Hollywood,but with Steven Spielberg's 1996 blockbuster
.felease Twister being filmed throughout Oklahoma's
famed tornado alley, 1995 may well be remembered as the year
Hollywood discovered Oklahoma. Not that fame doesn't have
its price. But so far folks in Wakita and Ponca City tell us, it's a
darn good one.
line, like his songs, conveyed
something that could help all
Indian people.
To the public, however, the
former TU football player has
become the Onondaga Indian
who gets transported through
time to modern-day NewYork
(only to be three-inches tall
when he arrives). And that,
admits the twenty-something
rapper, has taken some getting
used to.
City, Guthrie, and Norman all
caught a bit of the Twister acTulsa's Jeanne Triplehorn tion, too. (Movie set designTHE RAPPER
can count herself among those ers worked for weeks carefully
who survived the most expen- wrapping car chassis around
For years, the Tulsa CheroTHE EYES OF OKLAHOMA
sive movie ever made: Kevin tree trunks and artistically kee known as Litefoot labored
ARE UPONYOU
Costner's adventure movie placing rubble in a field south as one of the only Indian rapWaterworld. (Triplehorn of Ponca-all for just a few persin the country. He wrote
"Walker Texas Ranger" enplayed the Mariner's passen- seconds of footage.)
tered its third season in 1995
ger in the trouble-plagued
Through it all, sigl-" - -'
securely at the top of the ratfilm shot in open ocean off the leading lady Holl, --,,,.
ings heap-consistently the
coast of Hawaii.)
("Mad About You") and actor .
most-watched program on
Bill Paxton (Apollo 13) were
any station on Saturday
'iDON'TTHINK WE'RE IN
reported with a sense of urHOUYWOOD AWYMORE'
gency usually reserved for
nights.
Off the set, its star, Wilson
weathermen when a funnel
native Chuck Norris, anIn a state where tornadoes has been spotted on the
nounced his engagement and
rip through on a regular ba- ground. Oklahoma may have
starred in the movie Top Dog.
sis, 1995 will be remembered gone Hollywoodbut Oklahoas the year in which we un- mans were still first and foreleashed tornadoes upon our- most fans.
selves (albeit with a little help
-from Hollywood). While the THE R M R N OF ROCKF'Orm
in charaaer.
town of Wakita (pop. 450) allowed itself to be leveled in the
In "The Rockford Files," hits that sounded like poetry,
name of art (or at least a strip JamesGarner turnedthe char- produced records (his own
of its turn-of-the-century acter of Jim Rockford into a and other's), toured Indian
downtown buildings), Ponca television classic on par with reservations,and steadily built '
Angela Lansbury's Jessica a career as a musician.
Fletcher. When the show went
Neutral bordering on indif- Oppositefim top left, c h ~ c k ~ o r r i s , off the air, mumblings soon ferent about acting, Litefoot . began about how to get the took the role of Little Bear in James Garner, and Tulsa rapper
ever-popular Garner back on The Indian in the Cupboard W Litefoot in The Indian in the
Cupboard
the tube. The solution? A se- because he believed the story The "Wa2ker"cast. ONE FOR THE SCRAPBOOK
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Year In Review 1995
I
SPORTS '
le always say truth is stranger than fiction but seldom . tics Championship in New .
OHHH, SAY CAN YOU
adage been so true as it was in Oklahoma sports Orleans.
SWING
. Unexpected victories, even more unexpected . "She is one of the most in- .
u$ets, resignations, eleventh-hour hirings-who needed soap credible athletes I've seen,"
Oklahoma college golf
bperas when real life was this entertaining? Truth be known, . observed Coach Bela Karolyi. . teams needed a caddie to haul
keeping track of all the action (and the players) in 1995was not
We'd have to agree.
. home all the accolades they
unlike watching a game with the sound off: it was easy to think .
collected in 1995: OSU's topyou knew what was going on when in fact you didn't have a
W E AND WELL
, ranked Cowboys came back
clue. (OU football fans spent much of the year in such a state of .
from a seven-stroke deficit to
confusion.) What with the Big Eight scheduled to go the way of
Unbeknownst to Nadia . win their seventh NCAA
the dodo bird in 1996, even the future didn't look too familiar. . Comaneci,theRomanianstar . Men's Golf Championship
Wise sports fans hunkered down to see how the chips would of the 1976 Olympics who under coach Mike Holder (in
fall and took consolation in the fact that at least they weren't . lives in Norman with her fi- . February they won their
Barry Switzer in Dallas.
ance Bart Conner, a Roma- fourth straight team tide at the
. . . . . . . . . , . , ,
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nian newspaper in August . John Burns Intercollegiate).
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.
MtLLER TIME
Earlier that year in March, . 33-year-old gymnast had died. . golf coach Carol Ludvigson
Miller led the U.S. women's : After teary calls from her : was named the NCkA coEdrnond's Shannon Miller . gymnastics team to a Pan . mother (who learned of the re- . coach of the year (she shared
was sidelined with a painful American Games record of : port while vacationing at the : the honorwithLindaVollstedt
ankle injury at the World . 388.375 teampoints-clinch- . Black Sea) and a flood of calls . of Arizona State), OSU
Gymnastics Championships ing the gold medal for the : from media around the world, women's golf coach Ann Pitts
in October, when it began to . Americans. In August, she . Cornaneci managed to setthe . (in her 19th season at OSU)
look as if the Russians would . took a bronze in floor exercise, : record straight but not, she had : was named to the National
keep the Americans out of the . a silver in
. to admit, before resisting the . Golf Coaches' Association
team medals.
petition, and a gold in the : impulse to turn on CNN "to Hall of Fame, and two OklaThe 17-year-old world : vaultattheNationalGymnas- . findoutwhathappenedtome." . homa State golfers-Trip
champion begged to stay in .
: Kuehne and &is COX-made
the lineup, scored the seventh :
. the U.S. Walker Cup team
best total of any gymnast in .
(giving OSU four current or
the optional exercises, and :
former players on the prestihelped the Americans edge the .
gious international team).
Russians by .016 points for the :
bronze medal. Said her coach, .
THE WORLD ACCORDING
Steve Nunno of Edmond, af- :
TO AIKMAN
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terwards, "Miracles happen
with that kid."
Clockwisefiomtop kF, OSUat the
Final Four, wach John Blake with OU
president David Boren, and Owen
Field afer the Cavboysbeat OU.
. Bryant Reeves hugs his mother; he was drafted in the NBA'sfirst round
Year In R e v i e w 1995
.
Leading the Dallas Cowboys to two Super Bowl victories was tough but it probably
didn't make Troy Aikman
squirm half as much as baring
intimate details about himself
in his new children's book,
to an end in Oklahoma-and
in the nation-with the conclusion of the 1995 Class 3A
. state title game at 10:06 p.m.
in March of 1995 (Stigler beat
. Meeker 63-37 to win the title).
. Some 290 state schools
switched to 5-on-5 with the
start of the 1995-1996 school
. year.
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DENNIS THE MENACE
: Between 1992 and 1994,
former Oklahoma college bas: ketball star Dennis Rodman
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With Stigler.) 63-37 d4eat ofMeeker on March 11 at the Class 3A championship in Oklahoma City.)Myriad Convention .
Center, 6-on-6girls basketball ended in Oklahoma-as well as the United States.
rebounder loose in 1995.
When the flamboyant Rod(with three players per team . man of the body tattoos and
on each half-court rather . dyed hair landed on the Chithan two full teams running cago Bds, more than one basthe full court).
ketball fan donned shades and
And in rural Oklahoma, waitedforthefireworks. They
even after schools across the . never came.
country switched to a full
In 1995, Dennis Rodman
court game, 6-011-6 defined . became the player everyone
Oklahoma girls basketball.
who respected his talent (inBut the era of 6-on-6 came . cluding those who saw his
three-year run at Southeastern
State where he collected 1,507
rebounds and averaged 25.7
points a game) knew he could
be. The 6 feet 8 inch Rodman
showed up to practice and to
games, and no one even begrudged it when his hair
clashed with his uniform.
Credit the calming influence
(or the intimidation factor) of
. Michael Jordan-who
is
1 known for having little toler. ance for teammates who
slough off--or even a new in. security over having been
traded by San Antonio for two
. firless talentedplayers,but DenE
nis Rodrnan was-if only temDennis Rodman
. porarily-a
new man in 1995.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Things Change. "It was a
humbling experience to some .
.
degree:' Aikrnan admitted.
In the book, the Million
Dollar man admits to once .
having a terrible fear of death
and resenting the need to .
move from California to the
quiet rural town of Henrietta .
at age 12. But he also gives
advice: "Don't be a quitter. .
Learn fiom defeats, then shake
them off like dust on cowboy .
boots."
SaysAikrnan, "The message .
is that we all go through
changes, we all have to over- .
come things, we all have our
own insecurities."
Yes, even the Million
Dollar man.
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M E VeAR THAT WASNT
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boys not win their third
straight Super Bowlvictoryin .
January, but by fall they
couldn't even beat the Wash- .
ington Redskins (this with
.
Neon Deon on the field).
Just when the Barry bashingin Dallas-Ft. Worthlooked .
like it might incite a border .
war, the Cowboys' fortunes .
seemed to perk up (which ac- .
tually seemed to make Dal- .
las fans more irritable).
And if one could buy .
Switzer's logic that the only .
thing that really mattered was .
getting to the Super Bowl (not
necessarily how prettily one .
accomplished the feat), then .
theCowboysinlatel995were .
right where they wanted to be.
The million dollar question .
. was, was Barry?
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If Dallas fans thought .
MRMLCMAFllS
.
things couldn't get any worse
than having an Oklahoman . For as long as Oklahoma .
coaching their beloved Cow- girls have played girls basketboys, they didn't count on . ball (since about 1905),they .
1995. Not only did the Cow- have played a 6-on-6 game .
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racked up $55,500 in fines and
some seven game suspensions,
so no one was too surprised
when the San Antonio Spurs
said good riddance to bad
news and cut the NBA,s top
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Oklahoma Today
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THE CONFERENCE
CONSOLATION
THAT RUTH BUILT
EN0UGI-l
When Babe Ruth
scholars, fans, a n d
afficionados gathered
at Hofstra University
this past spring t o
commemorate the
100th birthday of
baseball's "Sultan of
Swat:' one lone Oklahoman appeared on
the schedule of scholarly papers-that explored e v e r y t h i n g
f r o m "Mathematical
Comparisons Between
Babe Ruth and Other
Sluggers" to "What ;i
Would Babe Ruth Earn '
Today?"
Redlands Community College instructor
William W. Gordon,
of Oklahoma City . . .
had made the trek to pose a
question he had pondered for .
a good while, "Why 1s There
NOSultan in Other Sports?"
At the least, his paper was .
more polite than that of one
Chicago doctor, who pre- .
sented a paper on "Why Babe
Ruth Should Be in the Hall .
of Fame and Pete Rose
Should Not."
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A
OSU basketball
coach Eddie Sutton
may n o t have a
coaching trophy to
show for the 1995 season, but you won't hear
him complaining.
Sutton coached his
Cowboys to their first
appearance in four decades at the Final Four
NCAA college basketball tournament in
April, by winning the
East Regional basketball championship in
March (making Sutton
and his team all but
legends in their own
town).
In Stillwater, Final
Four fever had local T. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
shirt shops working
COYOTES ON WHEELS
nounced it would relocate a round the clock to keep fans
. franchise to Oklahoma City . in Final Four duds; out-ofOklahoma's capital city for the 1995 summer season. State Cowboy alums on the
has been in the grips of ice . BY late summer the coach . east and west coasts drove
hockey mania for a year or . was gone, and the Coyotes' . hundreds of miles to watch
two now (ever since the CHL owners admitted the fran- Eddie's boys play The Cowin the form of the Blazers re- . chise was up for sale or posturned to town), but roller sibly due to be relocated to
hockey?
Dallas.
In March of 1995, Roller :
Hockey International an- .
THE ONLY COACH
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In his first year as head bas-
: ketball coach at OU, Kelvin
Sampson took over a program
: that went from 15-13 in 1994
to 23-9 and a berth at the .
: NCAA Tournament (it was :
upset by Manhattan in the .
: opening round).
Despite his team's lackluster
showing at the NCAA tournament, the 39-year-old Sampson
I ended the season a big winner.
The Associated Press named
him its National CollegeBasketb d Coach of the Year.
.
Eddie Sutton and company at the Final Four.
Year In Review 1995
l e ~ iaunhyn
g
as a wie.
boys played five NCAA tourmment gamesbeforelosingto
UCLA in Seade (UCLA went
on to win the tourney).
%Pro Football Halfof Fame class of1995 included three Oklahomans:
secondfiom left, Steve Latgent, Jim Finks (represented above by his son), and
Lee Roy Selmon.
. . . , . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
water where he was affection-
BYE, BYE BIG COUNTRY
. atelyknown as "Big Country."
He was a country boy from
the small town of Gans (pop.
250). But in his years at OSU,
Bryant Reeves developed
from a flabby freshman prospect into an All-American
who led the Cowboys to their
first Final Four appearance in
four decades.
Indeed by the time the affable Reeves was a senior, he
was something of a folk hero
in the university town of Still-
:
At 290-pounds and 7-feet
'
"big man" on Eddie Sutton's
. tall, Reeves med the role of
. winning Cowboy basketball
team. The big center went on
. to be a first-round draft
choice for the Vancouver
. Grizzlies, one of two NBA expansion teams.
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PRO HONORS
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The induction of new mem-
. bers to the Pro rootballHall of
out, and one of their own-
Fame in Julywere pretty much
. an
Oklahoma a f f a i r (three out
. of five inductees had ties to the
' Sooner State).
Lee Roy
Selmon, a consensus All. American at OU, was the first
. member of the Tampa Bay
. Buccaneers to be indudedinto
' the Hall, as was Steve Largent,
. once a record-setting wide receiver at OU, for the Seattle
. Seahawks (Largent is now a
rookie member of the U.S.
House of Representatives).
Also inducted was team administrator and former University of Tulsa quarterback
. JimFinks, who representedthe
. first inductee from the New
Orleans Saints.
. JohnBlake, a Bany Switzer rec-
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THEwslNe88OF
FOOTBAU
ommendation-wasin.
It was none too soon for
Sooner fans who were stdl in
. denial over a season that had
seen them lose not only to
. Texas but, egabto those Cow'
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Ryan Minor of OU was Big Eight
. basketbaU%playerof the year.
: A hurriedly scheduled press : boys down the highway (on
conferenceon the last dayof the . Owen Field no less).
: year, dowed ou to finish out
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1995 with a head football .
OSU won the Big Eight baseball title, but the Sooners taok the regional crown.
ctonot the one they
had started out with in January.
Howard Schnellenbergerthe man OU boostershad con. sideredtoo much of an outsider
. toleadtheS~onerNatio*WaS
O k l a h o m a Today
NOWORDSNECEBSARY
'
. Asked what kind of year
. 1995 was, a Cowboy football
.
fan replied: 12 to 0.
. We know exactly what he
. fneant-
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Standards
...in work
O'Haver Industrial Park located near Boomer Lake,
the City's recreationaland park area on Stillwater's north side.
Serected best new public
golf course in America -.-in 1995
- Golf Digest
-
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...in enjoyment
For more informationcontact:
Stillwater Chamber of Commerce
1-800-593-5573 Fax 1-405-372-4316 Internet Home Page: H~P://www.okstate.edu/stillwater/introduction.html
I
While other young actresses struggled
with their finances, Te Ata supported
herself performing Indian stories and
songs at society functions (one grande
dame was so impressed she surprised Te
Ata with a round-trip ticket to England,
where the young actress performed at the
ShakespeareTheater in Stratford-UponAwn and before Prince Marie Louise).
Yet without a doubt Te Ata's most fa1895-1995
mous patron was Eleanor Roosevelt, who
She was a champion of American Inchampioned the willowy Oklahoman
dian culture long before Kevin Costner
before her husband, Franklin D.
put it on the big screen or Ted Turner deRoosevelt, was elected governor of New
cided to document it. With an unerring
ear for storytellingand the timing of a born actor,TeAta Fisher York, and who never forgot Te Ata-even after her husband turned a love of the theater, Indian folklore, and her Chickasaw became president and she first lady of the United States. Te Ata culture into something that more resembled a calling than a . performed at the Roosevelts' first state dinner on April 22,1933 career. "I wanted to represent my people in the best light? she (the guest of honor was British Prime Minister Ramsey
once &d, "andsoIrefused any number of suggestionsby white . MacDo&),,and again at Eleanor's invitati~nin the spring of
managers and agents that I incorporatevaudeville-typethings . 1939before the King and Queen of England (TeAta presented
the Queen with two Indian dolls for then
in my repertoire."
princesses Elizabeth and Margaret).
Born Mary Thompson in 1895 in Indian
Though she married a New Yorker
Territory and raised in Tishomingo, she was
(Hayden Planetarium director Dr. Clyde
indeed the real McCoy: Her father was treaFisher), made the pages of the New York
surer of the Chickasaw Nation, her uncle a '
Herald Tribune, and lived in Manhattan, Te
tribal governor. Her Chickasaw name was Ata never forgot where she came from. Her
Te Ata, or "Bearer of the Morning? and by the time of her death on October 26, 1995 permanent address was always given as
"New York and Tishomingo." And in her
(justthirty-seven days short of her hundredth later years, she returned to Oklahoma to a
birthday), it was the only name needed to identify.her to Oklahomans. well-appointed apartment in a sleepyneighYet Te At& fame came almost by happen- borhood in its capital city.
stance. As a student at the Oklahoma Col- Inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of
Fame in 1957 and the Chickasaw Hall of
lege for Women in Chickasha (the same col- Fame in 1991, she became in 1987
lege that produced Miss America Norma Oklahoma's first official State Treasure-no
Smallwood), she regaled classmates and teachers 4th Indian stories learned from her father, Thomas . one else would be so honored until the Comanche artist Doc
Thompsmr. By hw graduation in 1919, Te Ata had honed--at Tate Nevaquaya in 1995.
the urging l ~mentor
~f
and drama instructor Francis Dinsmore .
Davis andher QCW peers-the stories and folklore into a one- .
woman h w . When she ventured to New York City at the age . Oppositepage, Te Ata on the cover of McCall's. Above, with Olympian Jim
of twenty-seven, her college routine stood her in good stead. . Thorpe and in her later years, at home in Oklahoma City
Te Ata Fisher
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Year
In Review 1995
Irvin Hurst 1905-1995
It could be said that
his newspaper beat
was ultimately anything with a chance of
becoming Oklahoma
history, though in actuality, his newspaper
career simply mirrored his times and that of his home state.
As a state house reporter for the Oklahoma City
Times,Hurst covered the outrageous antics of AlClockwisefrom top left, Hurst with Gov. David Hall, as a young reporter with Alfalfa Bill
falfa Bill Murray. He reported on the administraMurray, and alone with his trademark cigar.
tion of Governor E.W. Marland as well as the dire
legislative sessions that occurred during the Great Depression every man who has served as governor of Oklahoma, and there
and the Dust Bowl. When Will Rogers and Wiley Post were is little doubt that he covered Oklahoma during some of its
killed in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska, in 1935, it . most turbulent periods. Observed his son Owen Hurst of
was Hurst who oversaw the remaking of the Times' front page Duncan, "Dad indeed was a colorful man with an interesting
and the production of an extra edition on theloss of Oklahoma's . life, and all the details will never be known because he died
favorite son and the pioneer aviator.
1 before he could write about it." He did, however, leave beA graduate of then-Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater, Hurst . hind some clues: six truckloads of papers and notes and
worked on newspapers in Okrnulgee, Stillwater, and Okla- memorabilia-from the love letters he wrote his beloved wife
homa City. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism . to photographs of himself with innumerable famous Okla1 homans.
Hall of Fame in 1987.
Irvin Hurst died October 8,1995. He was ninety years olci.
Hurst counted himself among the rare few to have known .
:
'
:
Mark Vickers
1957-1995
Friends and family knew him as a gentle, caring man who when diagnosed with AIDS chose
to spend the rest of his life improving the conditions under which others with AIDS would live.
A member of the Board of Directors for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, the Oklahoma
United Methodist AIDS Task Force, and the Tulsa AIDS Coalition, Mark Wayne Vickers in
1989began work on what would become Rainbowvillage,a housing project in Tulsa for people
with AIDS or those infected with the HIV virus. (It was incorporated in 1993.)
For his work, Vickers was awarded the 1993 Richard Shackleford HIV Memorial Award and
the 1993 United Way Evergreen Spirit Award. In 1995,he was named Citizen of the Year by the
National Association of Social Workers.
He died May 15,1995. He was thirty-eight years old.
Oklahoma Today
r
I
a
I
Daniel Allen
1930-1995
For twenty-eight years, Daniel Richard Allen waged the good fight. The former parish
priest founded Neighbor for Neighbor, one of Tulsa's first social service programs. "Poverty
had never met a greater enemy than Dan," one colleague told the Tukia World.
Born on a farm west of Edmond, Allen was reared in Tulsa. He attended OSU for two years
before entering seminary. Ordained a Roman Catholic priest in May 1957, it was during his
tenure at St. Jude's Catholic Church that Allen began the outreach work that would become
Neighbor for Neighbor in 1966. His vision was of an organization that would provide food and
basic services to those in need; in the end, it became much more. Today, the program offers free
dental and legal clinics, money management classes, food and clothing stores, and a safe house.
It is credited for inspiring the Tulsa c o r n u n i t ; Food Bank, m&et schools, and the city's Legal Aid Program; it has been the
subject of two CBS documentaries.
In 1973,Allen resigned from the priesthood to concentrate on the program. Neighbor for Neighbor helps some 27,000 people
annually-without a single dollar from the government. Allen died November 7,1995. He was sixty-five years old.
Vester Taylor
1924-1995
At Thanksgiving,Vester Taylor and his wife, Opal, prepared meals for the hungry and homeless; at
Christmas, using money they raised from their annual pie supper, they provided beautifully wrapped
Christmas gift boxes for children. Day in and day out, their Pryor Home Rescue Mission was a
beacon of light to those in northeastern Oklahoma with nowhere else to turn.
Vester Taylor founded the mission in 1963; though disabled, he ran it entirely with private donations. President Carter was so impressed with the operation he once named
Taylor Disabled American Veteran of the Year, but the title Taylor cherished most was bestowed upon him by the children who found their way to the mission's door. Observed one of his own seven children,"The children who came through the mission knew him as Grandpa or Mr. Mission,''
Vester Taylor died February 7,1995; he was seventy-one years old.
I
Daisy S. Osborn
'
Co-founder of OSFO International World Missionary Church (a combination Tulsa church and worldwide missionary organization),Daisy Osborn spent most of the last fifty years directing overseas evangelistic, educational, and humanitarian programs for the church. Fluent in French and Spanish, it was not unusual for her sermons and crusades on foreign soil to draw 25,000 to 200,000 people at a time. An author, photographer, cinematographer, publisher, and radio show host, she preached in seventy-threecountries and helped organize a woman's congress in In- dia attended by more than six thousand women. In 1987,she became the first woman evangelist to minister in New Guinea. During one of her global treks in 1974,former Ugandan leader Idi Amin choptered in to a Kenyan crusade being conducted by Osborn and her husband-and-partner T.L.; before Amin left, he invited the couple to come to his country to preach. Osborn was an international adviser and lifetime patron of Christian Women's
Fellowship International. The mother of four, she watched her children become youth leaders at age fifieen, married at age eighteen,pastors at nineteen, missionar- ies to India at twenty-one, and founders of their own world organizations by the time they were twenty-five. In 1994, the Osborns gave the Skelly center, valued at $10.8 million, to the Vic- tory Christian Center. Osborn died May 27,1995; she was seventy. Year In Review 1995
Labron Harris
1-1H16
Ikrbs;2s-bom, Wewoh-raised,LabtionI-kris,&., is possibly &e
most famousgolfmach to wer come out afOM9homa. EIe madehis
where m r the mum of
reputation at aldahorna State Univerw3
Wenty-seven years he built a tradition-fib pgrm b e d p h rily on his ability to teach OMomaBoysh m to ply a country dub
game.
He coached the Cowbops tu nine Ikiiwwi V d l qand fi&m Big
Eight championships;mdone NCkA ti& in 1963,thoup;b the numbers don't do his b@%justice;; they placed mmg fhe top five team8
twenty of his twenqwmn year& Re himself became a m e m k of
five halls of fane,induding the U W o m Sports Hall of Pame.
His athletes m . e m B a him as both a produn of the old h o l awchw h M
~ y s wanted e m r y t b g done the sl&t m~and believed players s h a dworkhard-and w m e oftheqos*r%fiitst&ing waches, A great motivator, Harris recruited dose to home and
G e l i d in creating plrrgwmlrt simply mapiag up the ~
~
"He didn't r e d t like they do
former Big Eight &mapion Ab
Justice t ~ l d
the Daily Okkhomn. "If thq wanted ta cowe, pea%
#
tihey diWt want to come, he didn't care. He taught JoeW - , w h o
caddn"t play a lick whm he went to coIIeg~and made Joe a great
player,"
Ebmerplayerssay Hads (whoseown son,Ldmn Hmis2Jr,wumu
on ta play professiodly) set a good example, Dwhg W mxmat
OSU, he was head golf coach,a fuaf~atime
p k m in tdre basinsschoob he& pr~sat the city course, and afrequent player an the buraament circuit There w a d t a d a it~is said, when Harris-thou&
plagued hy arthritis muah of his Xfe-&dni"t mala it out to the golf
CDLUBt:.
He died August 14,1995, in Sun City.,Arkom. He:was eighty-six.
George Miskovskv
The son of Czechoslovakian immigrantswho settled in Oklahoma City while it was still Oklahoma Territory,George Miskovsky,
Sr., spent his childhood delivering newspapers and working around his parents' grocery store. At age thirteen, his mother was
left widowed with seven children to raise.
Miskovsky went on to work his way through both college and law school and to become OU's undefeated welterweight boxing champion for four consecutive years. W i ner of both the 1931Welterweight Crown of Oklahoma and the Amateur Athletic Union
Southwest Regional Welterweight title, he was invited to join the U.S. Olympic boxing
team for the 1936 Berlin games, but declined in order to pursue his fifth-grade dream of
becoming a lawyer.
After graduating law school in 1936, he became the first public defender in Oklahoma
County. He was elected to two terms in the state legislature, served two terms as the Oklahoma County Attorney, and in 1950 began the first of three terms in the state senate. His
tenure was marked by his efforts to allow women to serve on juries (it took an amendment
of the Oklahoma constitution), repeal prohibition, create permanent voter registration
(which provided for voting machines and eliminated ghost voting), and to establish the
Public Trust Act (which allowed tax-free revenue to be used for public improvement
projects). He unsuccessfully ran for governor on the Democratic ticket in 1958.
The Oklahoma City attorney died January 14,1995; he was eighty-four years old.
Oklahoma Today
Rev. Chilton Powell
1912-1994
He was known as the "Father of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer." As Bishop of the Okla- homa Episcopal Diocese for twenty-four years (from 1953 to 1977),the Rev. Chilton Powell oversaw the establishment of the St. Sirneon's Home for the Aging in Tulsa, the development of the Jane Phillips Episcopal Hospital in Bartlesville, and the creation of a geriatrics center at Presbyterian Hospital and the expansion of Casady School in Oklahoma City. Yet he is remembered most for having chaired the denomination's Standing Liturgical Com- mission as it undertook in the late 1960s the first updating in almost forty years of the Book of Common Prayer, originally written in 1549 when the Church of England broke with Rome. The commission simplified the book's language and some say diminished the emphasis on man's innate sinfulness; it drew the ire of many of Powell's Oklahoma flock, though, Powell refused to let the controversy make him bitter. Powell died December 31, 1994;he was eighty-three years old.
Kermit Horn
1925-1995
The son of the first black policewoman in Tulsa's history, Kermit Horn joined the city's police
force at a time when black officers were not allowed to eat in white-owned businesses and returned
home after work to segregated neighborhoods.
Horn joined the force in 1951; the father of nine, he was the first black promoted to lieutenant
under the competitive civil service examination. He retired from the force in 1985. He died April
5,1995, of cancer; he was seventy years old.
Volney Meece
4
He was a sports legend. For almost forty years, Volney Meece pursued sports
'
journalism the way he believed it should be done-ethically, fairly, honestly, and
tirelessly. Yet "He never let pursuing a story get in the way of what he believed was
the right thing to do:' one colleague told the Daily Oklahoman. "I think Volney
knew more sportswriters, more football coaches, and more sports information di1
rectors than i n y person in America:' added former Oklahoman sports columnist
Frank Boggs. The author of Thirteen Years of Winning Oklahoma Football Under Bud Wilkinson, Meece garnered accolades and honors that would make a linebacker blush: the first- ever Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year (1962);president and executive director of the Football Writers Association of America; former president of the American Association of Baseball Writers; 1988 Oklahoma City 89ers Hall of Fame inductee; honorary
member of the Oklahoma High School Baseball Coaches Association, the OU Lettermen's Club, and the American Football Coaches Association. A He was a sports columnist at the Oklahoma City Times from
1952-1984,joining The Oklahoman in 1984. The Tonkawa native and OU graduate retired in 1991, but only to concentrate more on his duties as executive director of the FWAA. He died June 26,1995, at the age of seventy, while attending
a convention of college sports information directors in Colo- rado with his wife, Lou. And his subsequent memorial ser- vice was just as he had requested: a chance for friends and family-from Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens to re- tired OCU basketball coach Abe Lemons-to reflect on the good times sports had afforded them all. 1
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Lewis Ketchum
1935-1995
Lewis B. Ketchum of Tulsa served as chief of the Delaware tribe from 1983to 1994.
The Bartlesville native spent his term fightingfor sovereigntyfor his people. "He was a
mediator:' his eulogy read. "As family and business associates describe him, he was a
peacemaker. But he could also be a lion if it was necessary to defend the interests that
were proper. And that lion heart was there for his people, the Delaware people."
Revered for his efforts on behalf of his tribe (he championedminority students and
helped improve job opportunities for Indian youth), Ketchum was also admired as a
savvy businessman who built a small distributorshipof oil country tubular goods into
the Red Man Pipe and Supply Co., a petroleum company with annual sales of more
than $60 million and sales offices in nine states. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan
presented then Chief Ketchum with the U.S. CommerceDepartment's MinorityEntrepreneur of the Year award at the White House.
Ketchum died September 20,1995. He was sixty years old.
Dr. H. Don Chumlev
1948-1995
4
When the world went to pieces in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19,1995,Dr. H.
Don Chumleywas one of the calm presences tending to the injured and dying that day. Yet
the horror, he told someone,was unlike anything he had seen sinceVietnam.
Trained at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Oklahoma City osteopath
had in his career served as physician for a who's who of sports greats-from world boxing
champions Sean O'Grady and George Foreman to Yankee third baseman Fred Carter and
1983Mr. Universe Bertil Fox. "He was a very givingperson:' said Chumley's son Sean Jones.
"When the call came that rope and climbing gear were needed in the (Murrah) building,
Chumley (an avid climber himself) loaded several thousand dollarsworth up and took it to
the bomb site."
Unbeknownst to many, Chumleywas the driving force behind the "Hitting for the Heartland" softball game that raised more than $100,000 for educational funds for children of
Chum'eyand
the bombing victims. "He personally spent well over $20,000:' said Jones,"payingfor fights,
charteringjets, etc. to get the players here to OKC so that the game would be a success."
Chumley died after a plane crash in the Texas Panhandle on September 24,1995; he was forty-seven.
I
Hershel Hobbs
1907-1995
To SouthernBaptists,he was a livinglegend known to members as "Mr. SouthernBaptist"; the Rev.
Billy Graham called him "a father in the ministry to me" and called on him often for advice (hewas the
first person Graham called upon after hearing of the Oklahoma City bombing).
A regular for years on the "Baptist Hour" radio program, Herschel H. Hobbs was also an author
(the most recent edition of his guide for adult Sunday school teachers sold 90,000 copies) and
columnist (hewrote a weekly column on Baptist beliefs for church newspapers).
Pastor emeritus of the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City and former Southern Baptist Convention president, he was on a first name basis with U.S. presidentsJohnF. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson. And those who know him insist no other Baptist, aside from
Graham,was as well-known or respectedby as many people. In a denominationthat had
endured recent leadershipbattles,Hobbswas the persistent peacemaker intent on keeping people talking and finding common ground. "There was nothing egotistical about
Herschel Hobbs:' the Rev. W.A. Criswell told the Daily Oklahoman. "He was God$
faithful servant."
Hobbs died November 28,1995,of a heart attack. He was eighty-eightyears old.
1
Oklahoma Today
A
Dean
t
I
Ada Lois S i ~ u eFisher
l
1924-1995
I
In 1949, she became the first black student to attend the University of Oklahoma
Law School. But it was a hard-won accomplishment. A graduate of Langston University, Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher fought three years to be allowed to do what so many
young Oklahomans took for granted: pursue a law degree.
When then-OU President George Cross refused to admit her, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Legal Defense Fund sponsored
her legal challenge. The lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court-not
once but twice. In Fisher's last battle in 1948, she was represented by a young
Thurgood Marshall, himself destined for the Supreme Court.
The high court's decision in her case forced the integration of law and graduate
schools throughout the nation, but it failed to close one loophole: schools could
accommodate black students with "separate but equal" facilities. In Fisher's case,
OU created the Langston University of Law School-a single room at the capitol.
Unrepentant,Fisher sued OU again and won a second time in the Supreme Court, forcing the Oklahoma legislature to integrate
OU's law school.
When admitted in 1949, she sat at the back of the room behind a sign that said "Colored." She ate alone at a lunch table
surrounded by a chain and watched by a gun-toting guard. Such attempts at humiliation failed to stay Fisher's determination to
graduate, and graduate she did in 1951 (she also attained a master's degree in history from OU). She practiced law from 1952 to
1956 and later became a professor of history at Langston University. In 1981,the SrnithsonianInstitution designated her one of
the 150 outstanding black women who have affected the course of American history. In 1992, Governor David Walters appointed her to the OU Board of Regents, and in 1995, OU Press released her biography.
Fisher died October 18,1995; she was seventy-one.
Woodrow Hanev Sr.
He was born in Red Mound, Oklahoma, and did not speak a word of English until he was twelve years old. Yet the full-blood Seminole-Creek grew up to serve as an interpreter for the Creek and Seminole tribes and to develop tapes of the Creek language. Governor George Nigh named him a goodwill ambassador for the state, and USA Today recognized him as one of the nation's Top 10 Humanitarians. The patriarch of an old Seminole family (hisbrother Jerryis chief of the Seminole Nation; his son Enoch is a state senator),Woodrow Haney, Sr., was also an accom- plished flute player and craftsman. Though he couldn't write music, he won many awards for his music and the flutes he carved. In 1976,he was selected to play at the U.S. bicentennial celebration in Washington. He died September 6, 1995, after a lengthy battle with diabetes. He was seventy-six years old. Joe Davis
1941-1995
He was a saxophonist who played with Ella Fitzgerald, Kenny Rogers, and most recently the
Tulsa country group known as the Tractors. Accomplished on all woodwind instruments, he
toured nationally and recorded with Pat Boone as well as Fitzgerald and Rogers.
But his loyalties were always divided. "Joe always wanted to work in b a d s and combos,"
NSU music professor Lowell Lehman told the Tulsa World, "but he also wanted to use his
degree to educate." In fact, NSU President Roger Webb built the university's renowned jazz
lab in Tahlequah around Davis. The program couldn't have been in better hands. "He really
put the program on the map," said Lehman. Joe Davis had been battling cancer; he was fiftyfour at his death.
Year In Review 1995
Don Cherry.
1937-1995 Oklahoma native Don Cherry began his career studying the worlts of Fats Navarro
(he was playing professionally by the time he was a teen-ager), but he built his
musical reputation on trumpet melodies that transcended jazz to embrace the
sounds of funk, folk, and pop.
In 1956, he met Ornette Coleman. Two years later, he was par.t of a twosome
recording with Paul Bley, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins.
He died October 19, 1995, of liver failure near Malaga, Spain. He was fiftyeight years old.
Keller Williams
1933-1995 Keller Williams co-founded the Keller Williams furniture company in September 1956 in
Oklahoma City. As chairman and head designer of the Keller Williams Collection, he led the
custom-designedfurniture manufacturer to national prominencehis furniture and interior
designs graced the pages of The New York Times Magazine, Architectural Digest, House e+ Garden, Connoisseur, and House Beautiful, among others.
For his work, he was awarded the Roscoe, Hexter, and Resources Council awards; among
his many interior design projects were The Skirvin Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City and
the offices of Ramco Oil in Tulsa.
He maintained factories in Oklahoma City and Tulsa and homes in New York City and
Dallas, where he died April 23,1995, at the age of sixty-two.
Lewis Meyer
?-I995
A lawyer by profession, Lewis Meyer chose the world of books for his life's work. As
host of "The Lewis Meyer Bookshelf:' he is believed to have hosted the longest-running television show in the United States-some forty-two years all told.
Meyer stumbled onto his new career after realizing that he hated practicing law. He
opened the Lewis Meyer Bookstore on 34th Street and Peoria Avenue in Brookside in 1935. It was soon one of the official stores used to tally The New
York Times Bestseller List (the store later moved to 5800 S. Lewis Avenue). A few years later, Meyers launched the TV show that became a
Tulsa institution on KOTV-Channel6 on Sunday mornings.
Meyer became legendary in the Manhattan publishing world for
being not only one of the last great independent book sellers, but also
for encouraging and supporting young authors (he hosted a steady
stream of autograph parties) and young readers (he ended each TV
show with the words, "The more books you read, the taller you grow").
In the end, he became an author himself. Two of his books-Preposterous Papa and Offthe Sauce-are million-copybestsellers. A frequent television guest (he once appeared on "The Tonight Show"), he
nonetheless declined overtures from the Lettermen staff to come to
New York to meet Dave.
In October of 1995,he was awarded the Board of Governors' Award
by the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences for his contributions to the television industry. Meyers died January 6,1995; his age was unknown.
Oklahoma Today
(
I
Mike McQuay Best known for his science fiction novels that included Escapefiom New York and
My Science Project, Mike McQuay was the award-winning author of more than forty
novels.
In 1987, he won the Philip K. Dick Award for his science-fiction novel Memories.
He taught creative writing at the University of Central Oklahoma for the past ten
years (his advice to aspiring writers was to write a million words before they tried to
publish anydung).
McQuay's most recent works included a book for the Mack Bolan-Executioner series and a collaboration with science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke.
He died May 28,1995; he was forty-five years old.
Thelma Whitlow
1909-1995
A summa cum laude graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, Thelma D. Whitlow moved to Tulsa in 1927;there she became a teacher and
a director of the North Tulsa YWCA. She worked for children by day and her
community by night.
Married to Henry Clay Whitlow, Jr., a former principal and to many the dean
of black educators in Tulsa (he died in 1994),Whitlow was a beloved civic activist. President of the Tulsa Housing Authority, organizer of the citizens group for
the Model Cities Program, and the first black named to the Gilcrease Museum
board of directors, she co-founded the Dargan Whitlow Summer Arts Program
(to which the Whirlpool Foundation donated $20,000 in April of 1995)and helped
spearhead the development of the Greenwood Cultural Center, a $3 million complex located in Tulsa's historic Greenwood district.
She died April 16,1995; she was eighty-six years old.
David Moss
19481995
In a time when the justice system is increasingly called into question, Tulsa County District Attorney David Moss was universally admired. Known largely for prosecuting murder
cases-he sent fourteen men to death row-Moss also believed in taking on low-profile
cases as a matter of principle.
A Texan who came to Oklahoma via a football scholarship to the University of Tulsa,
Moss endeared himself to Oklahomans by refusing to use his office for political gain. Though
two of the past four district attorneys in Tulsa went on to become governor, Moss had happily served as an assistant district attorney since 1974 and then as district attorney after
being appointed to fill a vacancy in 1981. On his watch, a victim-witness center was constructed, and programs to combat domestic violence, juvenile crime, and truancy were begun. His procedure for handling child abuse cases has become a model for the state of
Oklahoma.
Moss ran unopposed in 1982 and 1986, and won by decisive margins in 1990 and 1994.
"He was a genuine public servant:' District Judge Tom Gillert told the Tulsa World.
The Monday followinghis death on November 26,1995, prosecutors, clerks,and secretaries
donned black ribbons in his memory. His funeral drew some two thousand people, including
Governor Frank Keating and his brother-in-law Larry Gatlin who sang a medley of hymns.
Following a twenty-one gun salute, he was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.
Year In Review 1995
4
I
I
Ralph Blane
He was one-half of the songwriting team that wrote "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Trolley Song" for the
musical Meet Me in St. Louis (he earned a Oscar nomination for best song for the latter). Over the course of his career he penned
more than five hundred songs, was nominated for a Tony (twice for an Academy Award), and belonged to the SongwritersHall
of Fame, the Composers Hall of Fame, and the National Academy of Popular Music.
Born Ralph Blaine Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Ralph Blane enjoyed fifty-plus years in show business, writing songs and
creating arrangementsfor virtuallyeverybig movie star affiliated with MGM studios--Judy Garland,Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds,
Rosalind Russell, Doris Day.
He worked with Irving Berlin, collaborated with Cole Porter, had his own show on Broadway in 1941 (BestFoot Forward),and
became part of the famed "Freed Unit" that produced the spectacular film musicals that came out of the Forties and Fifties. In
1979, he and his long-time collaborator Hugh Martin hit the big time again with the vocal arrangements for the Tony Awardwinning revue, Sugar Babies starring Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller.
Blaine died November 13, 1995, at the age of eighty-one.
Carl Lowrance
-
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-
1913-1995
He was a man who improved on things. When others were content to ship bananas by rail, Carl Lowrance pioneered the use of trucks (they proved more efficient). In 1949, he opened a quail farm that soon produced 40,000 birds annually for fish and game agencies in the Midwest and gourmet restaurants from coast to coast. In the 1950s,he introduced Chuckar partridges to this country (now a well-established wild game bird in the U.S.). But Carl Lowrance's greatest coup endeared him to fishermen everywhere: he developed the world's first transistorized sport fishing sonar unit, a device so handy it revolutionized the sport of fishing and earned its maker the ap- plause of Field and Stream. According to Tulsa World columnist Sam Powell, "Carl Lowrance cer- tainly had as much of an impact on the sport fishing industry, on an international scale, as Mickey Mantle did on the sport of baseball." Though Lowrance retired in 1975, Lowrance Electronics remains the largest of its kind (more than $72 million in annual sales). The Tulsa entrepreneur died July 10,1995;he was eighty-two. Oklahoma Today
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Darrell Crawford
Oklahoma Representative 2604 S. W. 1O2nd St. ,Oklahoma City, O K 73159 (4051692-831 0 (4051556-7538 PAGER
WE BID FAREWELL
AN AMERICAN
LEGEND
By W.K. Stratton
k
,
~
FTER THE 1968 BASE)all season, when
MickeyMantlecalled it
L
quits's a New York Yankee,
America had yet to give up on
heroes. Sure,the war in Vietnam
;
raged, college campuseswere unsettled,andpatterns of urbanviolence were taking root in the
nation's cities. But school-age
boys unabashedlystillprized uni
forms with the number ?'-the
Mick's number--on the back. I
know. Just a couple of years earlier, I had been one of them. During little league games, we tried
to ape the famous swing, beginning at the heels, then uncoiling from the legs and trunk
in a movement of pure power. (He whipped the ball so
hard that players over the years insisted that it even
sounded different from when other players hit the ball.)
We attemptedto beat up the first-baseline the sameway
Mantle did-fast, no wasted motion, head hardly bobbing as the cleats (or in our case, Keds sneakers) dug into
the dirt. We tried,but to no avail. No one couldbe Mickey
Mantle except Mickey himself. Even that late in his career, hewas somethingto behold. "He had achievedmany
great things on the field," the estimable George Vecsey
wrote in the New York Times at the time,"and developeda
relative maturity to appreciate them. He was cheered
every time he poked his head out of the dugout."
When Mickey Mantle played baseball, one of his
friends once noted, he swung from the soul.
As I grew older, though, I traded in my old heroes,
Above, Mickey Mantle
in 1966.
Thehighestcompli- ,
mentMickey gave
people was to say they
werejust like somebody
fiom Oklahoma. "He
was alwaysfiom
Oklahomajrst."
Year In Review 1995
Mickey included, for a new set
that included the likes of Bob
Dylan and Jerry Garcia. As for
baseball, I liked to think that I
became more of a sophisticated
follower of the game, which led
me to eschew the Yankees as the
team only dilettantesrooted for.
Real fans cheered on the likes of
the ClevelandIndiansor the Chicago White Sox, teams that
weren't always easy to love.
Mantle fell from grace with me
after I read Yankee pitcher Jim
Bouton's landmark memoir Ball
Four, about womanizing, drug
use, and alcohol abuse among
professionalathletes. (Mickeynever forgaveBouton for
breaking the long-standing rule among jocks that what
you see or hear in the locker room stays in the locker
room.) About the only time I thought much about
Mantle was when I saw him hawking beer on television
or when I heard stories involvingdrinkingand rudeness
to autograph seekers. If I felt anything at all about him,
it was that it was too bad he had not become more than
he was, a former ballplayer who never lived up to his
potential, now out hustling for a buck.
But Mickey Mantle became a hero to me again last
year, as he did for many Americans. The Commerce
Comet, his liver ravaged by years of alcohol abuse and
cancer, showed us all a thing or two about how to face
death with dignity. And he ensured his death was not in
vain. Even the stoutest of his detractorswere moved by
his bold admissionof his alcoholism (whocan forget the
candor he showed during his final appearance on "Larry King Live"
on CNN) and by the courage he showed as he met his end. Forget the
home runs and the batting titles and the World Series titles. Mickey
Mantle's finest moment came during the press conference he held
shortly after his liver transplant. "This is a role model," he said of
himself before the TV cameras. "Don't be like me, you know."
The Mickey Mantle story defies real life. It is more akin to a classic
black-and-white movie directed by Frank Capra: good-hearted country rube rides his extraordinarytalent and his infectious grin into the
big city, wins the hearts of everyone, stumbles after he has conquered
the peak, flounders through a dark period, but at the end proves himself. Our early faith in him is justified. It is a story heavily anchored
by its roots. Through all the glitter of New York and the lights of
TV and the business deals in Dallas, Mickey remained a Sooner at
heart. His friend of twenty-five
years, Dallas businessman Joe
Warren, says the highest compliment Mickey gave people was to
say they were just like somebody
from Oklahoma. "He was always
from Oklahoma first:' Warren
adds. So cut to the beginning of
the movie. The scene is the hardscrabble mining country where
Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri
come together.
m
1
HINGS DIDN'T LOOK
particularly bright for Mutt Mantle's family
when his son Mickey (Mutt named the baby after M5ckey Cochrane, the hard-hitting catcher of the
Philadelphia A's and, later, the Detroit Tigers-a pitiful
alcoholic who spent his miserable last years living off
handouts from Hall of Famer Ty Cobb) was born on October 29, 1931. Mutt worked as a tenant farmer in
Spavinaw in those days, and money was
sure enough hard to come by, as it
was for almost all Depressionera Oklahomans. But
worse, Mantle men seldom lived to see
forty, cursed by
Hodgkin's disease
in the bloodline.
Early on, the
young Mantles
learned to get as
much from life as
possible as quickly
as possible, for there
was no certainty of to-
morrow. Seeing an opportunity, Mutt took a job as a shoveler with the
Eagle-Picher Zinc and Lead Company and moved his family up to the
small Ottawa County town of Commerce.
Despite the hard times, Mutt pursued his great love, baseball, every
chance he got. As a young man, he played on teams in small towns in
northeastern Oklahoma. As soon as Mickey was big enough, he watched
his father from the bleachers: "I sat in the stands, thinking he was a Pepper Martin, Mickey Cochrane, and Dizzy Dean all rolled up in a single
package. I mean, he ran, pitched, fielded most any position, batted both
ways, hit for distance, had a shotgun arm,and threw strikes...There's no
doubt he would have made a fine major leaguer if given the chance."
Baseball affected every aspect of Mutt's family life. Mickey's
mother cut the toddler's clothes
out of Mutt's cast-off baseball
uniforms, and she made sure
that the family radio was tuned
in to St. Louis Cardinal games,
even when all the menfolk were
away from the house. Mutt always designated an area near
any house the family lived in as
a place where his boys could
play ball. By the time Mickey
was five, he was spending
countless hours hitting tennis
balls off a tin barn. Later, he
joined his friends in games of
"broom ball," a countrifiedversion of the urban stickball
game played with a broomstick. Mutt believed Mickey's
Abovefiom left,Billy
chances at baseball success would be enhanced if he
Martin, Roy Mantle,
learned to switch-hit. To teach him, Mutt had Mickey
MickeyMantle, andRay
bat left-handed while Mutt pitched to him rightMantle, Commerce, 1952.
handed. Then he would have Mickey's grandfather pitch
to Mickey left-handed so the youngster could practice
batting right-handed.
RAISING A MAJOR
Max Buzzard-a fixture in northeastern Oklahoma
LEAGUER
sports for the last fifty years as a minor league baseball
player and as a coach at both Miami High School and
Mutt had
bat
Northeastern Oklahoma A & M-never saw Mutt play
left-handed while Mutt baseball, but he knew him as a "super nice person" who
all but worshipped his son. "He worked with Mickey a
pitched to h i rightlot," he says. "It's too bad he didn't live longer, so he
could have guided him a little after Mick went to the
handed. Then his
big leagues. Mickey had some pretty good records, but
I really believe if he'd taken better care of himself, he
grandfather pitched to
would have been the greatest ballplayer of all time. But
him left-handed so the after he got up in the bright light-well, he met up
with a couple of fellows who led him into the high life."
youngster could
As Mickey grew older, he played sand-lot baseball all
over
northeastern Oklahoma. "Wherever it was," Mantle
practice batting rightwrote in his autobiography, The Mick, "I drove myself to
handed.
get better and better, regardless of time and circumstance.
Oklahoma Today
I had to swingthat bat and field my position better thanany kid around. So that's all I did: play, play, play." One story goes that Mantle was so people like to recount much into baseball he'd even trained his dog to fetch his glove.
Buzzard says Mantle was already a good player when he first , Mantle's days as a star of the
met him. Mickey was fifteen years old and playing on the Miami league, with emphasis on the
Ban Johnson League team. Buzzard and the other players were in towering homers he hit. The
their twenties, most of them veterans of World War 11. When the only problem is, the seventeam traveled to games in the small towns of southeastern Kansas, teen-year-old Mickey was
they would stop by Cardin and pick up Mickey, who was too young hardly a star. In fact, Hall says
he hit only
to drive. Mantle may not have had the power that he
seven home
later displayed as a hitter, but Buzzard remembers he
runs. Mantle's
hit with authority and was fast. A couple of years later,
greatest skill at this point in his career was his speed,
when Mantle had moved on to the Independence,Kanand perhaps that's why the Independence Yankees
sas,Yankees,Buzzard would pitch against him. Mickey
played him at shortstop, a position for which he was
had learned Mutt's switch hitting lessons well. He hit
Mickey Mantle may
poorly suited. He may well have been one of the worst
one home run off the right-handed Buzzard batting
shortstops in the league's brief history. As a batter,
left-handed. The next time up, he hit another home well have been one of
run, this time batting right-handed, a feat that still
Mantle opted for the drag bunt and the dash up the
first-base line to beat the throw instead of for the home
amazes Buzzard, although he admits he was never the worst shortstops
much of a pitcher.
run. It made for a frustrating season.
In a scene that would be played out again in two
in the KOM league's
years, Mantle told Mutt he wanted to quit. Hall says,
"Mickey said he couldn't handle the KOM pitching.
TIME MANTLE WAS SEVENTEEN,HE
brief history.
Well,
this happened in a rooming house where Mantle
graduated from teams like the Miami
was living with everyone else on the team, so they all
Johnson League team and the Baxter
sas, Whiz Kids to the Independence Yanheard it. And they all heard Mutt's reaction. He got
TOP right, theMantles
pretty rough with him. Mutt said, 'Well, c'mon, let's
nsas-Oklahoma-Missouri League. While
and son Danny at
go back home. Let's go back to the mines.'* Faced with
now gaining fame because of its Mantle association and
home, 1952.
the hardships he knew his fathe efforts of John G. Hall of
the KOM League Remembered
ther endured deep in the
organization, the league was
earth, Mickey stuck it out.
not unlike a number of other
About the only highlightand it was a dubious oneClass D leagues in the country
at that time. The teams typicame in Carthage, Missouri,
cally were associated with a
when Mickey hit a fly ball that
Bill Hornsby, the son of basemajor league team, and they
functioned as the entry level
ball legend Rogers Hornsby,
for players aspiring to make it
lost in the sun. The ball struck
someday in the big leagues.
the younger Hornsby on the
Moreover, they provided enhead, knocking him out.
tertainment for small towns
Mantle rounded the bases for
across America in those days
a home run.
before people spent their sumOne other thing was worth
mer evenings cloistered in their
noting about the KOM days.
Players who knew him then
homes in front of the W.Four
KOM teams were located in
were shocked at the later news
Oklahoma: the Miami Owls,
of his alcoholism. Hall says
the Bartlesville Pirates, the
they knew him as a kid who
Ponca City Dodgers, and the
wouldn't touch anything
Blackwell Broncos.
harder than iced tea. About
Hall, a graduate of Bethany
the only thing he ever did to get
Nazarene College who now
in trouble was to throw a
lives in Columbia, Missouri,
couple of firecrackers during
says no small number of
the celebration in Indepen'
I
'
Year In R e v i e w 1995
4
dence on the Fourth of So impressive was Mantle's performance
July, according to Hall's that as soon as the Miners' season ended,
KOM League Remem- he went up to the New York Yankees as a
bered publication.
non-roster player for the last two weeks
With the season over, of the 1950 season. Then he went back to
Mickey went to work as the mines, toiling three hundred feet bean electrician's helper low the ground. But 1950 was the last year
for Eagle-Picher. Hall he'd have to work them.
says the experience alW~thintwoyears, he'd be the most famous
lowed Mantle to fill out, baseball player in America.
,'-sib
putting on pounds
muscle that would n-,
able him to develop his powerful hitting style. With the C1
Joplin Miners, Mantle lofted balls that traveled so far they
out the windows of an orphanage situated behind right field oft
Miners' home park. Once, when he broke a window, the orph s
displayeda sheet upon which they'd painted the message, THANKS
FOR THE BALL, MICKEY. Mantle and the Miners tore up the . rolled up at the bottom, and I was wearing
Western Association, with Mickey's batting average at nearly .400. white sweat socks and shoes with sponge-
kc''I
t-
Mantle sober and
hopeful in 1994.
WELClMdEtO
THE 8WOW
Hitting pepper on his
first day of practice,
Mickey smacked a
ball into the shin
of Joe DiMaggio.
And the Mantle
legend took o&
rubber soles,a tweed sportsmat, and a tie that was about twelve inches
wide and had a peacock painted on it." No doubt he made quite an
impression on the Yankees, the most cosmopolitan lrarq in the majors. That same day, hitting pepper with a couple of other players,
Mickey smacked a ball that smashed into the shin ofthe greatest %nkee of them all, JoeDiMaggio.
And thus the Mantle legend took off.
He was a little unsteady at Arst; he was even sent back to the minors briefly. But soon he proved to be a player with special gifts.
Legendary Yankee manager Casey Stengelwas stunned when he fit-st
saw Mantle run wind sprints. "MyGod: Stengel uttered,
"the boy runs faster than Ty Cobb." Soon he was
boasting to sports writers about his new player,
who he described as having the potential to
be Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig rolled
into one. Playing with arguably the greatest collection of talent ever on one ball
club, Mantle appeared in the World Series
twelve times during his eighteen-year ca-
test during 1956, when he won baseball's cov. re
eted Triple Crown. He led the American League with fifty-two home
. runs, 130 ruas battd in, and a 353 batting average.
But more than his numbers, it was singular feats in individual
. games that left fans and sports writers speechless. Consider Memorial Day, 1956. The day Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, Babe
, Ruth hit a home run ten rows deep into the right-field bleachers.
. For the next thirty-three years, no one came close to hitting it ball
that far in Yankee Stadium. But that day in 1956, Mantle smacked
. the ball so hard that the New York Times described it as "a skyscraper wallop." The ball traveled far beyond Ruth's
hit, flying up and up and up until it struck the
cornice high above the third deck, only
inches from the open space beyond the roof.
'
:
Mantle's second strike against the Detroit Tigers
in 1961; he hit the nextpitch into the stands for
his 49th home run of the season
"Depending on the witness," writes David Falkner in
time he tore out the ligaments in his right knee when
THE REALITY OF
his new Mantle biography, The Last Hero, "the ball was
BEING MICKEY
he stepped into a drain in center field during the 1951
either a gunshot or a moonshot. Whatever it was, its
World Series until his retirement, Mantle endured
velocity and altitude were too swifi for the human eye.
injury after injury. But he knew pain even before that
No player played with
And eerily, no one who was present for the game can
injury. He suffered from a bone disorder known as
remember there being any sound whatsoever when
osteomyelitis. At one point when he was in his teens,
more pain than
Mantle's bat struck the ball.
his doctor speculated that his leg might have to be
No wonder, then, that sportscaster Bob Costas
amputated because of the ailment. During his KOM
Mickey Mantle.
would many years later describe going to the ballpark
days, friend Sammy Joyce taped Mickey's legs and
with his dad to watch Mantle in center field as the
made him rubber shoe inserts so that he could play
Below, the 1950 Joplm,
epitome of baseball.
without too much pain.
Missouri, Miners; it was
Even so, Mickey Mantle never got rich playing baseBut he also developed the personal habits that
Mickey's second season in
ball. Thirty-five years after his greatest season, Mantle
shocked the players who knew him back in the minwrote: "We didn't have agents back then. There were no
theKOMLeague.
ing country. With his new pals Billy Martin and
agents... In my day,
Whitey Ford, he bebaseball players had
came a toast of the
town. He also bevery few rights and
very little leverage. We
friended fast-living
pretty much played for
Bobby Layne, a Unithe amount the club
versity of Texas quardictated. We did our
terback who later had
own salary negotiaa distinguished protions, and most of us
fessional football career. It was from
weren't sophisticated
enough or courageous
Layne that Mantle
enough or experienced
appropriated the famous line: "If I'd
enough at negotiations
to squeeze the club for
known I was going to
more money. Often,
live this long, I'd have
how much you were
taken better care of
paid had less to do with
myself. Not long behow much you profore he died, Mickey
duced than it did with
wrote: "A point needs
how good you were at
to be made about
negotiating."
what damage the
After his 1956 seadrinking did over the
son, the Yankees
years. First, it made
doubled Mantle's salmany days and nights
ary to $65,000 a year, "a staggering amount in those days." While difficult for the people who care about me the most. I wish I had
Mantle's numbers were impressive, they always seemed to be less been a better dad to my sons. And there is no doubt in my mind
than what they should have been. His that alcohol hurt my career terribly. In the end, all you really have
frustrated manager Stengel said, are the memories and the numbers on paper. The numbers are
"He's gotta change a lot. He's gotta important because baseball is built on them, and this is the way
change his attitude you are measured.
and stop sulking and
"And the point is, I played in more than 2,400 games, more
doing things he's told than any Yankee player in history, and I hit 536 home runs, and I
not to do. He'll have shouldn't be griping about my career. But I know it should have
to grow up and be- been so much better, and the big reason it wasn't is the lifestyle I
c o m e t h e g r e a t chose, the late nights and too many empty glasses." Mantle
player he should be." pointed to his rival Willie Mays as an example of someone who
Of course, no player did everything right-and had the superior numbers to prove it.
played with more "The fact is, Willie was one of the players who took care of himpain than did self, who really understood his body. And I can tell you, the mind
Mantle. From t h e may play games, but the body never lies."
Oklahoma Today
Mickey as a good-time-Charlie was
itey Ford rode theYankee team hu$UP &om
not read* aiparent tomas$pleople N w York City to Cooperstown.As won as they .arrived,R&zatao
back 2n Ottawa G~un).ty,at Iea& . and .Podmadqthefr excuses and left*but Mickey signed aatonot during his playing days! .
an hour a d a half. Then when he saidhe had to &me,
Buzzard sap, " S o - m e w '
crowded aromd hikn grew upset and complained. But
when hey come back mklt C 'ahr mm tarnplaind at dl about Nmutto and Eord, who @ted
Billy Miuttih, they'd go -di:ca . & ~ a i a i w g a single autographlittle'beek joint o m in
. '&m@
rtll the &arks about Maatle's treatment o# fans and
mace, and there'd tre k l e ,la& &!&&&I%, warren fret$ that the real MmUe gets lose "HG
was
carrying on. But not
g@m.gtlpn
- .
people knew abolrtt it.*
Mickey Mantle was not the beat baseball player of bis t h e .
D ' i e g k Ted WiIlims, Mays, Aaron, and Rte Rose aehiwed
But after his r e t i r a m
did get out. Richard Head&% m t e on Ehe diamond. Adyet asa legehd, Mantle e~1ipxdt4em
o w of Me organizers
ail. my? I'm not sureanpone:has come up with a
of t h e O klah oma
satisfactoryanswer. In hct, Joe Warren says Mickey
UWK~Y
HBRO
Siparts Museum in
himelf &a askedhimself tbem equestion,never
arriving a%a sazisfacto~y
answer. hlaybe it was beGu&rie, says," M i ~ y
J'dm&mn~t the
so msy
c
a
w he played for the fabledYankees. Mace it wits
was mot a l m ~
to get along with when
because be csme of age as a plaper as television came
he was &*ngP
He b"tww*~eer~*fag&sohisbaseballfats couldbe pipedinto mast
r e d s an event at the
af the haases hAmerica. Magbe i t was his bi-a~~rp
. Astrod~rnethat feain the face of pain. Qr maybe that ane of a kind grin
t u r d Hank Aatan and Mickey Mantle. Aaron, he
had soaethiag to do with it,
h n , Pete
mys, was outgokg and cooperative with the fans.
Whatever rbe rwoas, it bppenedd,and it ww
Mantle, on the otbtr hand, had been drinking and
romaxhing to behold. Mickey Mantle of Camlmerce,
shbedmom
wound up lea*
early. As a resuIt, I-Iendricks last a
.CiUahoma, beccsmt a part of essential Americana
lot of respect for Mantle*r a p e a he d y regained
along with John Wayne, Coza*Cola, Elvis, and
Ydwe
ahrNli3ey's displaydcourage at the md of his life.
McDonald's. Uur mythlogy wouldbe entirely difHowever, UantlPs Dallas friend Joe W a r n la
&s
ferent had not Mutt Mantle dewcited m much of his
Loco High Schoolgraduatewho played varsity bastime outside the mines to ~onviaeebi wn of ofhe
k t b a at Cmtrd Statein Edmond] sappeople donat
value of switch hitting and of running faster than
tan& d?#iMaap to
understand what it was 1"ie to be Mi&ey Mantle, an the
abrmt u math
anyaile in baseball $since Ty Cobb. So here's to p a ,
essentially sh.B man who was d w ~ ia
s the public a* his l i w frc~nsplmrt. Mutt and Mickey. We will dways be graeful.
spotlight. "Pectple red p put him k u $ h
the gauntlet when if
Raised 2% Oklakamm,
came ta sigpingautocofitriButi~dik,rWEg
graphs, Beeoddn't 3 ~ ~ p
Sfi"&#anncx~EYES ~lnd
out and get sornetbiag
to eat in a tedtamnt
without some;sne
H4s wark kas ~ p coming up and -04
&wedin Spom U1wiag an autograph. P P ~.
trated m d T a a s
seen him on aa airplane witk the whole
aislemed with people
Sied up to gea an autogfdpk"
Wmren &Q td&.ra
tory about l&mla3$
1934 inda~~hrr
fnbO
^
\
:
:
:
s
+
w1
'
r
Fame, Mm&e $ad
formar teammates
Year In Review 1995
In memory of the 168 w e lost April 19, 1995.
CREDITS
Editor-in-Chief Jeanne M. Devlin Art Direction David, Randall & Yates Associate Editor Nancy Woodard Contrib~tin'~
Editors Maura McDermott, W.K. Stratton, Steffie Corcoran
General Manager Joan Henderson Advertising Department Brian Brown, Carole A. Lee Circulation Department Melanie Mayberry, Pam Poston Business Department Lisa Breckenridge, Becky Isaac, Angie Ward Ancillary Products Jane Leonard Interns Aimee J. Downs, Susan Van Hook Tourism and Recreation Executive Director Edward H . Cook Tourism and Recreation Commission Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, Patty Roloff, Stan Clark, Meredith Frailey, Jonathan D. Helmerich, Joe Martin, Kenneth R. Schrupp, rohn West, and Robert E. Young Oklahoma Today (ISSN 0030-1892) is published by the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, 401 Will Rogers Building, P.O. Box 53384, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73152, (405) 521-2496 or (800) 777-1793. U.S. copyright O 1996 by OWahoma Today. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Oklahoma Today
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Representing Oklahoma's commercial banking industry since 1897. http:l/www.oba.com
W e stood there and gazed at the misty wooded hills rising
silently above the water. Listened to the steady murmur of the
stream spilling over worn rocks. Felt the cool, clean morning air.
The moment was pure Oklahoma.
And nearby was a marvel even more true to Oklahoma. An
underground pipeline for Oklahoma Natural Gas. Unseen and
unheard as the water gently rippled to the river's edge, nature's
perfect energy source was being delivered to more than 700,000
Oklahoma households.
Only natural gas combines energy eficiency, low cost and
environmentalji-iendlinessin one fuel. Somehow, it's onlyfitting
that a fuel so kind to the earth should come from the earth. And
it's our good fortune that this abundant fuel is destined to play
a key role in the future growth of our state's economy.
Like the lakes, like the prairie, like the mountains, Oklahoma
Natural Gas is pure Oklahoma.
m= OKLAHOMA
-=
=
,= WURAL
k:
--=-- GAS
\
1
O1SS OlUWY* NINRUWS COUPbNV. UL ROWS RESERVED.